Platform FanFics Magical Mishaps 2017 Contest
by PlatformFanFics
Summary: Fourteen stories written by different authors for the Platform Magical Mishaps OS challenge. Please visit our facebook page, Platform 9 3/4, for voting instructions. The only stipulations were to tie in with Magical Mishaps theme, be under 5k words, and rated T or under. Multiple pairings and timelines. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: All About Hermione

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count :** 4,708

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer:** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

* * *

 **Story Title :** All About Hermione

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Romance/Adventure

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger

 **Summary :** Hermione Granger is all grown up. Minister for Magic, mother to two children, and wife to Ron. Hogwarts is long behind her. But forgetting her past may be harder than she imagined, and one night in particular will stay with her forever. Perhaps Hermione will finally discover that it is never too late to break the rules and follow your dreams. Or perhaps, she has already discovered it long ago.

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 **All About Hermione**

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She was surrounded by frothing potions. They were bubbling and emitting so much steam that her hair had returned to its natural frizzy state. She looked around the room, consulting the notes on her parchment as she walked past several cauldrons.

The first was bubbling too violently. It wouldn't do. The second? The color wasn't quite right. But the third...?

There was a knock on the door and she jumped, accidentally bumping one of the cauldrons, and causing the potion in it to splash dangerously close to the edge. "Merlin's pants!" She growled, steadying it hurriedly before it fell over, as a familiar voice called though the door.

"Hermione! Haven't you finished yet?"

Hermione walked to the door as she pulled back her curtain of frizzy curls and opened it a crack. She stuck her face out. Harry stared at her.

"Harry. I'm sorry, I was just finishing up a report."

Harry continued to stare at her, nonplused. Hermione sighed and pulled the door open, inviting him in with a nod of her head. He walked into the office, taking a slow look around.

"Well, this has escalated."

Hermione shrugged as she shut the door behind Harry and walked to each of the cauldrons, covering them up for the night.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"It's almost 7:30. Molly has sent me two owls already, promising that if we're not back by eight, they will start the back to school dinner without us."

"How odd. I haven't had any."

"She must think you're more responsible than me," Harry said with a slight laugh. "If only she knew what you were doing, instead of your job I mean."

"This is very important, Harry!" Hermione said, scandalized. "This is absolutely part of my job. I need to know the components of this potion. If what I think is true, we need to regulate it. We can't have another situation where-"

"Hermione, you're Minister for Magic!" Harry said, exasperated but slightly amused. "Leave the experiments to the Potions lab. Surely you have more important things to focus on?"

"Just a little side project in my spare time," Hermione shrugged, as she walked around the room, covering up the rest of the cauldrons, and grabbing a few things from around the office. "The Potions lab hasn't figured it out. They said it's impossible, in fact. That it must have been done some other way. But I'm certain this is it. Besides I've finished everything else.

"In fact, here you are. I suppose you weren't expecting these until mid next week?"

She pushed a stack of parchments she had taken off her desk at Harry and grabbed her cloak. The parchments were a little damp from the potion steam but otherwise they didn't look worse for wear. Harry shuffled through them, surprised.

"That seems to be in order. I'm impressed as always. "

"Of course you are," Hermione smiled, as she pushed Harry out the door. "Now come on. Let's go see off those kids, shall we?"

The Burrow was stretched to bursting as usual. After helping themselves to several servings of Molly's delicious cooking, everyone was now too full to move. Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and Ron sat in the garden with James, Albus, Rose, Lily, and Hugo. Lily and Hugo, who were starting Hogwarts tomorrow, were full of excitement.

"And is it true that we can start transfiguring toothpicks to needles right away?" Hugo asked.

"And what about the Owelry? Can I visit at any time?" Lily asked before anyone could respond to Hugo.

"Yes. And yes," Hermione smiled, while Ron, Harry, and Ginny all laughed.

"And Potions?" Lily asked. "When will I start Potions?"

"I wonder every day where you got your interest for Potions, Lils." Harry smiled. "Certainly can't have been from me."

"Hermione, perhaps our babies were switched at St. Mungos?" Ginny winked. "Oh my gosh, Lily I'm only joking." She added, as Lily glared at her.

"Of course you are, Mum," the eleven year old rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, Lily, that will depend on your schedule," Hermione said, ignoring Ginny. "You'll find out the day after tomorrow.

"I hope you're all packed, by the way?" She added. "Hugo? Rose?"

Hugo and Rose nodded, but Ron wasn't prepared to let the subject drop. "Hermione, you're still quite the potion brewer, aren't you?"

Hermione gave him a warning glance. "I dabble. You know."

"Harry says your office is still full of cauldrons." Ron said, plowing straight ahead. "Still doing all the work of the Potions lab, aren't you?

"Your mum might as well be the whole Ministry," he added, turning to Hugo and Rose. "Honestly, she does everything. "

"Just overseeing all the departments," Hermione said, torn between annoyance that Ron was bringing up her side project and pleasure at the compliment. Ron really had a way with her. "Oversight, you know."

"Are you brewing potions at work, Aunt Hermione?" Albus asked curiously. "Which potions are they?"

"It's nothing very exciting, Albus," Hermione said, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere. "Really, I'm just working on the overflow. Donating my office space, that sort of thing. It's very busy at work these days. "

Ron smiled sheepishly. Hermione was a terrible liar.

"Our Hermione was always a potions whiz," he said, turning back to the kids. "After all, in our second year she brewed a Polyjuice Potion from scratch."

Hermione rolled her eyes as Harry muttered, "Here we go again..."

"We've heard this story a million times, Dad!" Hugo said, while everyone else groaned.

"What, even how she snuck into Snape's back room to steal the horn?"

"Yes, duh," said Rose.

"And how Harry made the Swelling Solution explode to cover it up?"

"Yesss," said Lily.

"And the part where she accidentally turned herself into a cat?"

"Yes, yes, we heard it all!" James said. "Way to go, aunt Hermione."

Everyone laughed. Hermione smiled herself, looking around at their big happy family, her eyes twinkling. At that moment Molly walked over to them.

"Ron, Ginny, I was hoping I'd have a chance to ask you two. Can you look through some of your old things and see if there's anything you'd like to take home. We're converting the attic into a Muggle-themed Arcade for your father, and we need to clear out some things. Ginny, dear, your old things are up there too. "

Ron and Ginny stood up and followed their mother.

"A Muggle Arcade?" Ron said, bewildered, as they walked toward the house. "Has George heard about this? We have some things in the shop that might be good..."

Harry chuckled, stood up, and followed them. Hermione leaned back in her chair, watching them go. Then she turned back to the kids.

"So," she said, her eyes twinkling with a well kept secret that was finally ready to see the light of day. "Do you guys want to hear the real story of the Polyjuice Potion?"

Their intrigued gazes were all the confirmation she needed.

Harry and Ron had taken their glasses of Polyjuice and left her alone in the stall. It was finally time to see if her work had succeeded. As she reached for the glass of potion, her hand trembled slightly. It was somewhat due to fear, but mostly from excitement.

Hermione picked up the glass full of bright yellow potion and downed it in one gulp. It tasted sweet and had a mysterious aftertaste that she could not place, but overall it was pleasant. In short, it tasted much better than it looked.

It hit her as she was putting the glass back down. A fire was erupting in her stomach and spreading through the rest of her body. She could feel it in the very tips of her fingers and toes, and as she dropped down to her knees, she could feel it, literally feel it, stretching through her. Or was it simply she who was stretching?

Suddenly she was on all fours. The stall was shrinking, the walls and toilet were shooting up, and her claws were digging frantically into the old tile floors as her heavy robes fell on top of her, blocking out everything. She would have cried out but she couldn't speak. She shook herself violently and the robes fell aside. For one terrifying second she was standing on the floor. The colors around her began to fade as the color slowly seeped out of her surroundings, while the dark corners of the stall came alive in light. To her right, she could see a boot jerking on the floor, and behind it blurriness. She could smell sweat and mildew. She could smell something alive. The whole world was talking to her. She looked around and the world seemed to move in slow motion. And then, just as quickly, she shot back up.

The stall got smaller and smaller. She could feel herself straightening. Her feet became hands again. Suddenly she was standing in her stall, naked. She was human. She felt human. But as she looked down at her hands, she saw they were covered in fur, and her nails were elongated into claws. Hermione reached up and felt her face, where she could feel her hands (Or were they paws?) brushing against more fur. And on top of her head, she could feel two pointy ears. Cat ears. Hermione gulped.

"Are you two OK?' came Goyle's low rasp of a voice from the next stall.

"Yeah," came the deep grunt of Crabbe from further right.

Hermione didn't trust herself to speak. She continued to stare at her hands, turning them over to look at her palms. They didn't have any fur. She heard the sound of two doors unlocking and footsteps in front of the stalls.

"This is unbelievable," came Crabbe's voice. "Unbelievable."

"We'd better get going," said Goyle's voice again. "We've still got to find out where the Slytherin Common Room is, I only hope we can find someone to follow..."

"You don't know how bizarre it is to see Goyle thinking," said Crabbe's voice again, growing louder as it moved closer. Suddenly there was a bang on her door. She nearly jumped.

"C'mon," said Crabbe's voice again, "we need to go..."

Hermione glanced down at the backs of her hands again, and at her robes lying on the floor. She was absolutely sure she could figure this out. A cat hair. It must have been a cat hair. She could sort this out. But she needed to buy some time. Ron and Harry would have to fend for themselves.

"I – I don't think I'm going to come after all," she called, her voice sounding strangely high pitched. "You go on without me."

"Hermione, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly, no one's going to know it's you," called Crabbe's voice.

"No – really – I don't think I'll come. You two hurry up, you're wasting time."

There was a silent pause. Then she heard Crabbe's voice again.

"That looks more like Goyle. That's how he looks every time a teacher asks him a question."

"Hermione, are you okay?" Goyle's voice called through the door, with an uncharacteristic amount of concern.

"Fine," Hermione called back, "I'm fine! Go on…"

There was a pause and the rustling of robes.

"We'll meet you back here, all right?"

Then there was the sound of footsteps hurrying away, a door opening and closing, and finally silence.

She waited a few minutes to make sure they would not come back, and then she carefully opened the door with her clawed hands and stepped outside the stall. The reflection that greeted her in the bathroom mirror almost made her sink to the ground in shock.

Her eyes were bright yellow. Her whole body was covered in black fur, and now that she was walking, she could feel something banging against her legs. Looking back, she saw that it was a tail. She walked slowly closer to the mirror.

"Oh Merlin," Hermione muttered in her high pitched voice. "I can fix this. I can fix this."

She picked up ' _Moste Potente Potions'_ and pursued the page feverishly. There was one note about animals. ' _Do NOT use for animal transformations._ _This is not a substitution for an Animagi transformation.'_ There was nothing else. She checked the surrounding pages and the index with no luck. Hermione dropped the book and looked back at the mirror.

"Ok," she said. "Willpower. I can fix this."

She had transformed into a cat, and then she had transformed back. She was sure there were more transformations left in the dose of the potion. She screwed up her eyes, focused on her human self, and imagined transforming back. She willed it with every ounce of being. She gripped the sink in determination. When she opened her eyes, she still looked like a human cat. She hit the sink in frustration. The sound echoed all around the room.

"Perhaps I just have to wait," she said. "Maybe it will go away."

She started to pace around the bathroom, unable to contain her nervous energy. She imagined what her life would be like if she spent the rest of it as a cat. She imagined lounging around in the sunlight and chasing mice. She shook her head violently.

Suddenly she felt the burning feeling again, and once more the bathroom grew larger. Within seconds, she was a cat. A beautiful black and white cat. The colors intertwined in patches on her back. Her paws and stomach were white. Her nose bright pink. This time she didn't change back. She looked around curiously at her desaturated surroundings. She focused and willed herself to be human, and shockingly she was back to her half cat state. After a few more attempts, it appeared that she could go back and forth between the two at will.

"Well, this is interesting," Hermione muttered, staring in the mirror.

She couldn't shed the cat hair altogether but perhaps in an hour she would be able to. In the meantime it would be awful to waste this time. After all, she may be the first person in the world to achieve this kind of transformation. Perhaps it's not that it wasn't possible, _it's simply that no one had tried it before._

Without a second thought, she grabbed her shoe and walked to the door. She carefully opened it a crack and stuck her shoe in the opening. She then turned back into the cat. At least fifteen of the precious sixty minutes they had secured had already gone by. She couldn't know when Harry and Ron might be back, but she had to do something while she waited. She squeezed herself through the hole in the door and crept down the corridor.

She wasn't quite sure where she was heading, but the corridor was lit up despite the lack of light streaming through the windows. The castle was alive and calling her.

She made her way downstairs, with thoughts of sneaking into the Slytherin Common Room, when a moving shadow drew her eye. She froze and turned her head sharply. A tabby cat was prowling along the wall. The tabby froze and looked straight back at her. Without thinking, Hermione jumped.

She lost sense of time as she flew down the corridors. She was only aware of chasing after the other cat, which in turn, ran from her playfully. They chased each other down the staircase, jumping on the banister. At one point they both tried to catch several spiders as they ran away in a straight line. At another they streaked past a doorway behind which Hermione could hear muffled voices and feel the tremors of someone hitting the door. She did not comprehend it.

She had only one mission. She wanted nothing more than to let her inner cat overtake her fears and so she let its desire to play envelop her. The feeling seemed to be reciprocated. At one point, as they wrestled, Hermione discovered that the tabby cat had strange square markings around its eyes. Almost as if it had glasses imprinted into its fur.

Finally, they both sat back on their haunches, their tails straight in the air and flicking back and forth, as they eyed each other. The tabby cat licked its paw casually.

As Hermione lazily mimicked the motion, she felt a burning start in her claws. As she focused her yellow eyes on her paw, she saw her claws slowly start to retract. The tabby watched her curiously, pausing in mid lick.

Hermione jumped up with a loud meow and tore off down the hallway. The tabby watched her go curiously but didn't move. Once she disappeared, it slunk away toward an open office down the hall.

Hermione raced towards the bathroom as she felt herself getting bigger and clumsier. Her steps became uneven as her front feet turned back into hands. Her tail became longer and longer and dragged behind her. By the time she reached the door, she was almost running upright. She could only hope, as she ran, that she had beat Harry and Ron here. She had no idea how she could possibly explain running naked through the halls. She hit the door with her shoulder and pushed herself inside the bathroom, kicking her shoe into the room with her foot. And came face to face with Moaning Myrtle.

Hermione had never seen Myrtle look so shocked. Her mouth dropped open and she didn't say a word as her eyes took in Hermione and what she could only assume was her lack of clothes. They stared at each other for several full seconds.

"Not a word, Myrtle!" Hermione finally managed to choke out. "Please! Not a word!"

And then she turned to the mirror, fully expecting to see her naked human self, and fully convinced that she was an utterly brilliant witch who had just figured out a potion for animal transformations, and saw her furry face and glowing yellow eyes staring back at her.

There was a second where she managed to convince herself that it was only because she had not willed it so. Not yet. She closed her eyes and focused on being human. She imagined it more strongly than she had ever imagined anything. She waited for the burning feeling but it did not come, and when she opened her eyes, the face that stared back at her was like an anchor on her heart.

She broke down in tears as the waves of disappointment washed over her. She had failed. She had failed, and she could not face Harry and Ron. Her face was living proof of her mistake. She whirled, ran into the stall, and slammed the door behind her, sobbing in earnest.

This cheered Myrtle up a great deal.

"Wherever did you get those cat ears?" She called. "I don't know if they rather suit you. And was that a tail?!"

"So as you can imagine, I was a bit disappointed with how that all turned out," Hermione finished, watching their spellbound faces in amusement. "And then Ron and Harry came back, and I imagine you know the rest."

"So, Aunt Hermione, you spent an hour playing with a cat," said James finally after a shocked silence. Hermione nodded.

"A tabby cat?" Another nod.

"With square markings around its eyes?"

Hermione smiled.

"But in our first transfiguration class last year, Professor McGonagall came by to demonstrate-" James paused, then started again, "Are you saying... Are you saying that Professor McGonagall spends her spare time running around the hallways at night in cat form, playing with other cats?"

Everyone else, who had not yet attended a third year transfiguration class, stared at James in shock. Albus and Rose burst out laughing. Hermione smiled wider.

"I couldn't claim to know, James. She certainly never mentioned it."

"And I suppose you didn't either?" He winked.

"I suppose it may have slipped my mind," Hermione said, smiling wider all the while. "And I imagine this will stay our little secret?"

The garden erupted in laughter.

Harry and Ron walked back down to the garden, both holding several bags of Ron and Ginny's old things.

"So there were five incidents," Ron asked, as they made their way down the stairs.

"Yes, and it was very strange. Goblin made family heirlooms missing. Galleons gone. All magical security systems frozen or disabled. But no other sign of a break in. No attempts to disable magical locks. No damage. And nothing to connect the families either. The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol was at a loss. They tasked the investigation to us. "

"Right, and then you found him escaping from the Thomas house, didn't you?"

"Well, not quite," Harry said, pausing at the door to the backyard. He turned to face Ron, shifting the bag he was holding to his other hand. "Dean is a muggle-born, you know? They have those muggle security cameras set up around the house. They record everything to a hard drive."

Ron looked at him blankly.

"Come on, Ron!" Harry said, rolling his eyes. "You're married to Hermione for Merlin's sake. Maybe you should go back to Hogwarts this year and take a Muggle Studies class.

"Anyway," he continued, ignoring Ron's amused reaction, "Dean set up the cameras to keep an eye on his dog when no one is home. The dog has access to the backyard through the pet door, and when the door opens, the camera is activated and Dean gets a notification so he can take a look.

"Well, he saw something rather interesting. Something was going through the door all right, but it wasn't Sparkles."

Ron snorted.

"He has a six year old, mind you," Harry said. "Anyway, it was a fox! A fox was entering through the door. Dean was worried about Sparkles so he ran off for home. He ran into MacMillan on the way and grabbed him in case he needed help with the fox. They apparated straight over."

"So where does Andrews come in? Was he in the house when Dean and Earnie showed up?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," said Harry, moving the bag back to his other hand.

"When they got there, the dog was frozen with the Petrificus charm, and the fox was in the living room. There was a brown bag on its back, which looked full, and the fox was holding a tiara in its mouth. When it saw them, it dropped the tiara and hightailed it out of there, right through the pet door and over the fence."

"So Andrews is using foxes? Or what was it?"

"Well that's the question, isn't it?" Harry said. "They chased after the fox and there was no sign of it. But five blocks away they saw a half naked man dart out of an alley. He was holding the same bag the fox had had on. They tackled him and he tried to Disapparate but MacMillan just managed to grab hold of his arm. They found several items stolen from the Thomas house in the bag, of course."

Ron whistled. "So, what, he's an unregistered Animagus? I don't imagine he's on the registry."

"Well, no," said Harry, pondering his answer. "We performed the Animagus Force Spell on him but he never turned into a Fox. There's no other way for a human to become a complete animal. Not unless someone else transfigures them, and this would have to be someone incredibly skilled since this isn't something the average wizard can do. But regardless he would have needed a partner to transform him back, and we found no one else in the surrounding area. And if he had had a partner, surely they would have escaped together. It was all very peculiar. Andrews denies everything, of course. "

"So what does he say happened?"

"Apparently he was jogging and he found the bag on the ground. He tried to Disapparate because he was scared of Thomas and MacMillan running after him."

"Can't you just Veritaserum him?" Ron wondered.

"No can do, mate," Harry replied. "The use of truth potions is strictly controlled, and anything he says under its influence would have to be thrown out from the case. It could even invalidate his whole testimony if we bring him to the Wizengamot. He is our only suspect after all.

"And so far, we've got nothing. We even got a warrant to confiscate his wand and there is nothing suspicious on it. He hasn't been casting any transfiguration charms. We had to let him go. At least the Thomas family got their property back."

"So Hermione," Ron began but Harry cut him off.

"Hermione, is convinced he's hiding something, yes. But you already know what she's trying to prove. The Potions Lab vetoed the idea and I think this one might be too much even for our Hermione."

"Don't tell me you're losing faith in her abilities?"

"Of course not," sighed Harry. "But Ron come on. Do you really think this kid Andrews can do something our Hermione can't figure out? He's barely out of Hogwarts. And he didn't exactly get twelve outstanding NEWTS."

"I dunno," Ron shrugged. "But if Hermione says she can do it, I suspect all she needs is time."

Harry shrugged and pushed the door to the garden open. Together, they walked out into the night to collect their families.

It was late at night. Very late. Everyone else was long gone.

They had dropped the kids off at King's Cross that morning and there was nothing to stop Hermione from staying at the office all night.

They were probably having their start of term feast right now. Or maybe they had long finished it, she really couldn't be sure. She had lost track of time hours ago. But how could she blame herself? What she was doing here was just as exciting as the start of any new year at Hogwarts could ever be.

She took a deep breath and picked up a tumbler of potion. It was glowing with a soft golden glow and bubbling softly. She raised it halfway to her lips, paused, and then drank it quickly before she could change her mind. It tasted like the sun.

It was a minute before a nostalgic burning feeling erupted in her stomach. But this time, it enveloped her gently, like an old friend. It coursed through her, and she embraced it with an open heart.

After a minute's pause, a cat was standing where Hermione had stood. The cat paused, looked around, and then turned back into a human. There was no fur on her hands time. A cursory glance in the mirror revealed that her eyes did not glow yellow. They were an ordinary human brown.

Hermione smiled. She turned back into the cat.

Tomorrow, there were many things for her to do. Tomorrow, she could revel in her achievement. Tomorrow, she could write up her guide to the animal transfiguration potion she had created. And tomorrow, she could have Andrews brought in again and question him thoroughly.

But tonight? Tonight was for exploring.

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 _Please review_


	2. Chapter 2: Don't Drink the Water

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count:** 864

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

* * *

 **Story Title :** Don't Drink the Water

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Romance with some laughs

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Ron Weasley/Lavender Brown

 **Summary :** Lavender will do anything to get her Ron Ron back. But what happens when there's an accident in the potions lab?

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 **Don't Drink the Water**

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October 27 1996

Lavender brown was up to no good, and you can tell that she did not want to be followed. She made her way down to the potions class, stopping every now and then to look over her shoulder to ensure no one was trailing her. When she finally made it to the class, she was relieved to find that it was unlocked, so she entered the room and went to the nearest cauldron. Pulling the ingredients she required from her turquoise bag, she laid them out on the table: ashwinder eggs, rose thorns, peppermint, powdered Moonstone, and Pearl Dust. She would get her Ron Ron back if it was the last thing she did.

Lavender pulled the potion book she stole from her mom, and turned to a page with pink texts and purple pages: the love potion. As she began to brew, Peeves, the poltergeist, came into the room.

"I knew I saw someone come in here" he said. Lavender jumped, knocking the cauldron, and its contents.

"Look what you made me do," she screeched. The potion was now spilled all over the floor, "You stupid ghost! You made me knock over my potion," Lavender yelled, cheeks turning a shade of red from her fit.

Peeves looked at the ground and started to laugh. "This is going to be interesting," he said with a grin.

"What do you mean?" asked Lavender. She looked at the ground and saw that the potion was seeping into the stone. Peeves, with a mischievous grin, explained that the Twins hexed the floor, anything spilled on it would seep through and enter the water system. Of course it could only be done once, so her potion was the one to set off the hex.

"What potion was it," he asked.

Lavender gulped "L..L..Love potion," she answered with wide eyes.

Peeves laugher rolled even louder as he floated from the room, his laughter echoing off the empty walls. _Crap._ Lavender thought to herself. What did she just do?

The next day is when things got crazy. Nevil and Luna were snogging in the court yard, Dean and Seamus were holding hands and kissing, but the strangest of all was that Draco and Harry, who were always fighting, were flirting with each other.

"Oooh, look what you started," Peeves said as he flew by her.

She turned to find Ron, to see if he was effected, but when she found him her heart stopped. He was kissing Hermione with such passion. _What is going on?_ She thought to herself. Turning towards the castle, she ran from the school yards and toward the Gryffindor common room. She couldn't see her Ron Ron with that _girl_ anymore.

When she got to her room, she pulled the potion book from her bag and flipped over to the spell. Her eyes widened as she read through the words, realizing she had brewed the wrong potion! She had accidently brewed the _True Love Spell_. Her throat closed up as she sat on the floor, panting, and trying to come up with a solution to fix this mess.

Suddenly, she heard shouting coming from the lobby. As she descended the stairs, she was grabbed and spun into the air.

"Someone's been naughty haven't they," the voice said. She looked down to see Fred Weasley smiling up at her, "Peeves told me what you did," he explained, mischief evident in his eyes, "and I just _had_ to come and see. You've really shaken stuff up, here haven't you?"

"It was an accident" Lavender said almost in tears.

Then, to her surprise, Fred brought her down and pressed his lips to her own.

"It was bloody magnificent," he said as he came up for air. "You made people's true feelings come to light."

Lavender smiled. For once, she was truly happy.

"So what about you," she said, pulling her lips to a wide, tight grin, "did you drink the water?"

Fred smiled back at her gave her another kiss, "I've always loved you," he answered.

Lavender looked up at him and leaned into him, sneaking in another kiss. Maybe this is how it was always meant to be? She would have to thank Peeves for making her knock over her potion, for helping her find true love.

The End

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 _Please review_


	3. Chapter 3: Calamity for Charlie

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count:** 3,092

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

* * *

 **Story Title :** Calamity for Charlie

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Angst/Drama

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Pansy Parkinson / Charlie Weasley

 **Summary :** When a newfound love for dragons lands Pansy in Romania after graduation, she is forced to work with a blood traitor. Will she give in to past prejudices? Or will love hatch between her and the goofy loving ginger?

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 **Calamity for Charlie  
**

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Pansy stood in line for the floo to be taken to Romania. The Ministry has assigned her there after she passed her exams, receiving some of the highest scores on record, second only to the Ministry's dragon expert, in which will become her mentor. She had obsessed over the scaly beasts ever since the first task of the TriWizard Tournament her fourth year at Hogwarts. When her turn finally came to go through, she took a breath, tossing her hair confidently over her shoulder as she stepped into the grate.

"Romania Ministry of Magic!" She held her bag strap tighter and closed her eyes. She didn't much like this way of travelling, as it made her stomach turn, but in minutes she was slowing down. She opened her eyes in time to catch herself.

"You must be Ms. Parkinson, am I correct?"

Pansy looked up and tried keeping the surprise off of her face. "Yes ma'am. Please call me Pansy."

The woman had the most baby blue eyes she had ever seen, with raven black hair. She was beautiful!

"My name is Elena Demitru. I am your Romanian guide until we get you to the office of Mr. Richmond. From there, he will owl your mentor and get you started," She said matter of factly.

This Ministry seemed bigger than the one in London, but it could be because Pansy was seeing it for the first time.

They took an elevator that announced all the floors they were passing: one called Animagus Depart, another called the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, and then finally-

" Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical creatures."

Motioning her to follow, Elena strode swiftly and elegantly, in a direct path to a cubicle where a middle-aged man sat. He looked up, his glasses at the tip of his nose.

"Good morning Elena. Are you bringing me another student for Charlie?" He pushed his glasses back up his face and studied Pansy. She raised her eyebrows, trying not to flinch at the familiar name, and stuck out her hand eagerly.

"Pleased to meet you, sir. My name is Pansy Parkinson. But please…. call me Pansy." He stood up and shook her hand gently, with a big grin on his face.

"Well then, Ms. Pansy, my name is Alex Richmond. Since we are skipping the formalities, I must insist you call me Alex," he said smiling and releasing her hand gently. "Let me send my owl, Percius, to your mentor," He motioned for her to take his chair, "It won't take but a few minutes."

"Since you're settled here, Mr. Richmond, I shall take my leave. I have another student arriving for Clearwater soon," Elena turned her focus on Pansy, who was sitting perfectly straight, "I wish you the best, Ms. Parkinson, and we shall meet again," she turned from her and made her way back to the elevator. Alex gave a small smile and disappeared down the hall, his quill and a piece of parchment already in his hand.

Pansy leaned back in her chair, trying to put a face to the name, Charlie, that was mentioned. Surely this was a coincidence: a Charlie who specializes in dragons. Her musings took her back to her first year at Hogwarts, listening to Draco go on about Potter and his clowns getting away with helping that big oaf, Hagrid and his baby dragon. Draco didn't deserve to get detention for that. She remembered the Weasel bragging about his brother coming to take the dragon with him back to..

"Oh my…." Pansy shifted in her seat, her heart pounding. There was no way she was going to be working with a Weasley. Just As she was trying to come up with a plan to ask Alex to reassign her to a different mentor, she saw him walking towards her with a grin on his face. She stood up.

"Good news, Ms. Pansy! Charlie has some free time today, so he will be here shortly to get you started. The next two days will be the introductions, and a tour of where you will be working. Then if Charlie feels you are ready, you will meet the current dragons we are studying." Alex smiled and tilted his head. Was he always so… chipper?

"Erm- Not to sound rude, but, who exactly is this Charlie?" Pansy put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to one side, biting her lip, "No offense or anything, but I wasn't told who exactly I would be working with, only that he is the best all around the world at what he does," she paused, slyly softening her features as she continued, "I'm familiar with a similar Charlie, and if he is in fact who I believe he is, I'm afraid we will run into a conflict of interest problem. Pansy stepped closer to Alex and tucked her hair behind her ear.

Alex shifted uncomfortably. His regular chipper demeanor faltered slightly, surprised at the sudden change in Pansy's mood. He narrowed his eyes at her, and in a serious, yet calm tone he said, "Ms. Pansy, Charlie Weasley is the best and only dragon expert we have that allows students under his wing. I'm sorry, but you either need to take it or leave it."

Pansy was surprised that Alex was being so austere with her. He clearly is not familiar with the Parkinson name and what that means.

"I want to work with dragons more than anything, _Alex,_ but if I have to work with a Weasley, then I would rather take my studying elsewhere. If I have to wait a while longer to work first handedly with these beasts, so be it. But you are _not_ kicking me out of this program my father has paid for. And you _will_ allow me to do this extra studying. If not, my father will hear about this, and your job will be diminished."

Pansy didn't care any longer if she sounded bratty or cross. She wasn't used to being denied in her requests, and she surely won't allow it to start now. Working with a Weasley? What would her dear Draco say?

" _Pansy,_ we don't offer anything above or below what you have already been given the opportunity to do. I am aware who the Parkinson's are. I am not frightened. If you don't want to work with Charlie, then don't. But he is the only one willing to-" Alex was cut off when someone cleared their throat behind Pansy.

"Charlie is the only one willing to do what?" Wide-eyed Pansy spun around and felt her skin grow hot. This couldn't be Charlie, could it? Standing straight with his head slightly tilted. Pansy noticed he had a lot of shiny scars on his arms, but under those scars were muscles that would make any sane woman swoon. Her eyes trailed to his jaw. She could imagine planting her lips along his jawline. Wait… what? Pansy blinked, and turned from his luring blue orbs, electricity coursing through her. Alex shifted beside her, undoubtedly feeling the aftershocks of their blatant chemistry.

"Charlie! Pansy and I were just talking about-" Alex began quickly, but was cut off by an eager Pansy. She sprung forward, hand outstretched, forgetting all about this man being a blood-traitor.

"We were just talking about how excited I am to get my hands on those beasts!" Pansy gave Charlie a sultry smile as they shook hands. He gave a goofy half- grin back.

"Well, it is still early. I can show you a few areas before we catch lunch. Your bag will be safe here, unless you prefer to take it with you." Pansy dropped her bag under the chair, and she followed Charlie down the opposite way she came in. Her life was about to change….

Charlie wasn't too intolerable during the whole ordeal. Granted, he played the role of teacher albeit too well for Pansy's sake, but she didn't mind playing her part of student under his instruction. He handled her witty one-liners with calm countenance, mindful never to overstep that level of professionalism, much to Pansy's surprised disappointment. She wouldn't mind the roles reversed behind closed doors so she can handle him instead.

Finally, the day came when she would be able to meet the dragons in person. The past few weeks had been quite fun, save for her trailing thoughts. When he moved his arms, his muscles bulged, and so did her eyes. At the end of her training, three weeks since she became his pupil, he told her she was ready.

"Okay, Pansy, I have a potential job for you. We have been researching ways to keep new eggs warm on their own. Their mother is sick, and in our special infirmary. The eggs are becoming too exposed to the air, and we need to come up with a better way for them to withstand their own," said Charlie, stopping to look Pansy in the eyes. He looked sad, like he had no hope, She pushed her chest out, standing up straight.

"Don't worry, Charlie! I can do this. Just show me where the eggs are and I'll get to work." She eagerly stood on her tiptoes, her soft hands clasping together. Charlie started laughing.

"Okay, Princess." Pansy's heart sore when he called her that. A wave of shame washed over her. No one besides Draco had ever called her princess before, and she found she rather liked the way it flowed from Charlie's lips. "How about we check out the eggs first before you start throwing charms and spells their way?" His tone was light, and it warmed her to see his sad demeanor dissolve. She nodded, and followed him to the nest.

Upon seeing the hard shelled casings of the eggs, Pansy's mind instantly went to work. She studied the thickness of the eggshells, reviewed the specifics of the nest, and researched the preferred temperatures of the current ones.

She remembered an incantation she used for her hair, a heating charm to smooth her locks in place, and thought that would be a great place to start. She altered the incantation and modified the wand movement. Using chicken eggs for practice, she cast charm after charm, day after day, determined to prove to Charlie that she was the answer for his problem. The answer for _him._

A few days passed, and then Pansy finally emerged from the coop, hair all over the place, and cheeks pretty flushed. Blood was dripping from her lip, where she bit it in concentration. "Charlie! I did it! I got the eggs to warm up without their mothers or these lamps!" Pansy was very pleased with herself, and was hoping Charlie would be too. He came running up to her with that goofy grin on his face that she was growing to love. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and gently wiped her lip, smiling down at her with a faint glint in his eyes.

"Let me see this charm, Princess." He took out his wand and started bouncing on his feet. Pansy turned and ducked back into the coop.

"I can heat twenty-four eggs at a time, which is about the same weight as a sing dragon egg. I hope you don't mind, but I sorted all of these eggs into the twenty-four that I needed in order to continue with my experiment." She paused, looking back at Charlie, who was listening intently. "The charm I made is called Apricity. You wave your wand like so…" Pansy knelt down and waved her wand over the eggs in a clockwise motion.

" _Apricity_."

The eggs glowed a light orange color and began to shudder. That's when twenty-four baby chicks started hatching all at once.

"The reason they are hatching, is because I have been working on these eggs for over two days now."

Charlie was amazed. He made Pansy stand up, and hugged her tight. When they broke apart, their eyes met, and the electricity coursed through them again. The same feeling they had in front of Alex at the office. Charlie bent his neck, cupping her chin with his rough hand, and pulled her to him. Their lips met in an explosion of bold, and both felt as though they could remain like this for an eternity.

Reluctantly, Charlie pulled away, his lips curled into that handsome sideways grin.

"Are you ready to try these on a dragon egg now?" Charlie asked, out of breath. Pansy nodded, not sure if she would be able to speak just yet. She wasn't even sure if she would be able to walk! Charlie took her hand and lead her to the nest. It was large a open, where large stand alone lamps were placed about the straw,attempting to heat the eggs the best they could.

"Okay. I'll leave you alone so you can concentrate on this. This is pretty important. Just holler if you need me." Said Charlie, hesitating long enough to kiss her chastely on her cheek.

Pansy watched his back as he walked away and let out a breath. She turned to study the egg in front of her. It was large, green, and black. She racked her brain through all the dragon eggs she memorized, and figured that this one might be a Romanian Longhorn. She bent down and touched it, a little paranoid that the mother would come and snatch her head off any moment. That feeling was, though scary, very thrilling, and she was unable to stop the tremors of excitement.

She took out her wand, waved it over the egg, and whispered, a little nervously " _Apricity_." She waited. And waited. And waited some more. She yelled in frustration. "I'll just try again. No big deal." She took a deep breath, waved her wand over the egg again, and said " _Apricity_." The egg glowed a light orange color and shuddered. Pansy kept doing this for three more hours until Charlie came in to check on her.

"You need to go home and get some rest. You can try again tomorrow. It's a dragon egg. It's going to take a while." Charlie pulled her to her feet and tucked her hair behind her ear. And then he apparated them both back to the office. Pansy grabbed her bag and started heading out the door before Charlie caught her hand. "Why don't you let me take you out?"

"Can I take a rain check? I would really like a shower. I'll see you in the morning." Ignoring Charlie's sad look, she took her hand from his, walked into the elevator, and apparated home. She hated to deny him, but she exhausted herself with her work today, and if she was being honest, she was feeling a bit hot herself, and needed to get some rest.

Pansy woke up feeling highly angry with herself. Not only was she unsuccessful with the egg, but she turned down Charlie for a night out together! A night where they could be themselves. Not the teacher and the student roles they were forced to be these past weeks.

Frustrated, she got up and dressed in almost record timing. She made herself breakfast and apparated to the Ministry, and walking to Alex's office, who stood at her presence.

"Pansy! Good news! Charlie has already arrived, and I think you will be glad to hear that the egg stayed warm over night! I'm sure by the end of today, we will have us a baby Romanian Longhorn! Great job!" Pansy's spirit was lifted. She dropped her bag and immediately apparated to the nest where Charlie was waiting for her.

"Did Alex tell you?" Charlie asked with his signature grin. Pansy beamed at him and nodded, throwing herself into his atmd. Charlie spun her before placing a soft kiss over her lips.

"If I succeed today, I will let you take me out. Now, go. Go before I skip the rest of the day to spend it with you." Charlie chuckled and went on his way. Pansy got right to work.

Four hours passed, and Pansy called for Charlie. The dragon was almost ready! Just a few more waves of her wand, and he would be ready to see the world.

"What is it?" Charlie came in and looked at the egg. "Wahoo! We are going to have a new Romanian Longhorn! I'm so excited. These, apart for Fireballs, are my absolute favorite dragons! You keep working on this, and I'll go get a few more people. This dragon has a bite to it!" Charlie ran off and Pansy turned to the egg.

" _Apricity_." Pansy waved her wand, and the next thing she knew, there was an explosion as the charm hit the egg. Apparently, the dragon had emerged its head from the egg, and decided to blow some fire right when Pansy did the charm. The next thing she knew was flying backwards through the air and landing on something hard. The air escaped her and she couldn't breath. She heard yelling, and then Charlie was by her side, tears staining his face.

"I didn't think he was _that_ ready! Pansy, I'm so sorry. We called some medi-wizards. They're on their way! Please. Please hold on!" Charlie kissed Pansy all over her face. What was going on? Was he crying? She felt fine. Until she tried to speak.

"Ch-Ch-Charlie… I…. I can't breathe." Charlie was murmuring. She couldn't see.

"Anapneo! ANAPNEO! WHY ARE NONE OF THESE SPELLS WORKING?" Charlie yelled. He threw his wand and took Pansy into his arms. "We were going out tonight, remember? Stay with me, Princess. Please. You can't leave me just yet. You can't." Pansy shook her head. He kissed her.

"I'm sorry, Charlie. Kiss me again. Please." She saw his face come up to hers and felt their lips touch. She heard the Medi-Wizards show up. She heard them tell Charlie they were too late. She heard his wails. And then she was gone.

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 _Please review_


	4. Chapter 4: Trepidation

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count :** 3,934

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer:** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

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 **Story Title :** Trepidation

 **Rating:** T

 **Genre :** Mystery/Romance

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Tom Riddle / Hermione Granger

 **Summary :** Hermione could never shake the unsettling feeling she got whenever she thought about the mysterious Head Boy who'd infamously traveled through time.

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 **Trepidation**

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 **~8oOo8~**

His adam's apple bobbed when he spoke.

Well of course it did.

That was the purpose of the distracting thing, wasn't it?

So why Hermione should find it so - appealing? - interesting? - _unnerving? -_ bloody hell if she knew.

The man was just _alarming._

Why no one else could see this abundantly clear fact was a mystery in of itself. That they would crown him as _Head Boy,_ instead of Malfoy, it was _unfathomable._ Malfoy was a right git - obviously - but he was worthy of the job. Merlin, he even beat her in potions! So why the mysterious and enigmatic Head Boy from the 1940's that just happened to have _accidentally_ found himself thrust five decades into the future should bump the ferret was beyond her. Truthfully, she was surprised Malfoy's father even allowed it.

"Wands out, Granger," came the haughty demand, "let's practice the charm."

Merlin, but he was _bossy._ And people had the audacity to assign that title to _her_! Couldn't they see that he was the prat that couldn't be bothered to lower himself to the common folk for even a few spare seconds?

When he glanced her way his eyes scraped against hers like shards of jagged crystal.

There was a word for that... _unsettling._

Fear curdled in her stomach and burst through her chest.

Why did the Slytherin make her feel so uncomfortable?

Everyone else seemed to adore him - or rather - bloody _worship him._

Yes, he was tall and lithe and his shoulders were broad and his face was chiseled - he could put any Renaissance statue to shame. He looked like your typical debonair Pureblood - perfect hair - smoldering eyes - petulant lips - but _he wasn't_ a typical Pureblood, and that was the thing.

He was a Half-blood.

Tainted.

 _Like her._

But you'd never know it from the way he held his nose in the air. It was as if he believed he was _above everyone,_ but it was more than that! Lurking in those dark orbs were secrets, _many secrets,_ and the need to find them all out was overwhelming.

"You're thinking too hard, again," he informed her rather imperiously. "There's smoke coming out of your ears."

Her magic crackled menacingly - he did _so love_ to bate her. "There isn't either, _Riddle,_ " she said with a snarl. "You once again exaggerate."

He bestowed her with one of his famous smiles, but it certainly did not reach his depthless eyes. "Are you worried about all the additional homework your classmates will undoubtedly throw on you tonight?"

Hermione shot him a withering glare.

"I'm convinced the whole of Gryffindor has you to thank for passing their classes with more than a Troll."

She smirked wickedly. "Somewhere in that horrible misassessment of yours, I do believe there was a compliment."

It was impossible to look so graceful whilst one _scoffed,_ but of course he pulled it off effortlessly. "You're searching for something that simply isn't there, Granger."

His act, his perfect, insufferable act, was dropped around her. For some reason he didn't bother with putting on the charm he put on with others. It was as if he knew she saw through it, and did not see the reason in pretending as Hermione was sure he did with everyone else. As much as that simple fact should upset her to no end, it was sort of - _comforting._

It was riotous, churning, _turmoil._ Because amidst the constant edginess, there was inconceivable _calm,_ and that was more alarming than all of it put together. It was sort of - _nice_ \- that he let his guard down around her, that she saw him drop the constant mask he wore for everyone else if even for the briefest of times.

But then the alarm would return, and she would be on edge even _more._

"The Runespoor, I think. Three is a powerful number, should strengthen the shield charm." She tapped her quill over the Advanced Charms text, and looked at him with an expression that could only be described as smug.

Everyone would be using the Demiguise or Unicorn Runic symbol to enhance the strength of their shielding charm, but she suggested a more complex symbol signifying the number three. Would he be up for the task? She'd used the technique before and knew beyond a doubt that she could wield the power of the Rune.

"Runespoor?" Distaste flooded his handsome features. "How common. I was thinking more along the lines of a higher number, this is Advanced Charms after all. How about the Septium? Seven is a rather _powerful_ number."

Hermione did not like the wicked glint that passed through his eyes so quickly she wondered if it had even been there in the first place. Nor did she like the way his words washed over her like sweet, honeyed venom. They shouldn't - _of course_ \- but they did and she was begrudgingly intrigued. There was a challenge, and Hermione Granger _never_ backed down from a challenge.

She met his stare intently, eyes burning with determination. "The Hydra."

She felt pleasure, a foreign dark and insidious pleasure, at the way his eyes widened for a second, at the surprise that passed fleetingly through his gaze. She had shocked him, just for a moment, and damn if it wasn't the best feeling in the world.

"Barmy Gryffindor," he spat cruelly.

"What's the matter, Riddle, scared?"

"Not at all, just don't think you'll be able to wield such a powerful Rune."

She drew herself up from her seat, folding her arms over her Hogwarts jumper. "I think you're mistaken - I'm _sure_ I can."

He instantly schooled his features, adapting a cool face of indifference. "By all means, Granger, let's get on with it, then."

He gestured in front of him graciously and Hermione took a determined stride forward. She glanced around the room, noticing that Harry and Ron had opted for the Graphorn symbol. Doubt flickered across her face, even that - the _number two_ \- was considered difficult, and they were going for _nine?_

"You do the head, I'll do the tail," she bit out, before she could lose her nerve.

Not one to simply follow directions, he shot her a command of his own. "The spell on three."

She gave him a stiff nod, clenching her jaw and gripping her wand for good measure. Beads of sweat were culminating at the back of her neck, and her pulse throbbed frantically at her temples. Her eyes sought his for... _reassurance_? But she really should not have looked.

He was far too distracting. It was dangerous to look at him and almost impossible to stare at him directly. She felt her scalp prickle, as if it were being invaded by a foreign presence. Merlin, but she needed to get a grip.

He was a seventeen year old student, just like she was, no more or no less powerful than she.

His wand sliced through the air, leaving a fiery trail of a head. It was almost beautiful, Hermione wanted hers to be equally so. She waved her wand and a searing, blue trace of a tail collided with his symbol.

The Hydra.

"Three."

Hermione had seconds to say the spell, the damned insufferable prat!

Her magic coursed through her powerfully, invigorating her every nerve-ending. " _HARESCIO!_ " she shouted at the same time as him.

Only…

Only!

"You pronounced it wrong!" Rage exploded across his face, but she was tripping, falling, arms flailing through the air and seeking purchase in something sturdy and hard.

She grasped onto Riddle, her fingers squeezing over his hardened forearms, as she tried desperately to right herself.

"It was _Harespio_ ," he corrected her angrily, holding onto her elbows and attempting to straighten her. "I don't know what the bloody hell _Harescio_ is."

"Sorry," she sputtered pathetically. _I was too busy staring into your bloody offputting eyes._ "I'm not sure how I could have mucked it up like that."

"What does that spell even mean?" He gripped her firmly, seemingly unable to let go of her.

" _Harescio_?" Professor Porter asked, eyebrows raised. "That's _stuck together,_ I'm afraid you've found yourself in a rather sticky situation."

The Professor's resulting giggle set Hermione's blood to boiling. She felt Riddle's magic spring to the surface, colliding with her enraged magic furiously, but it was oddly comforting - _pleasurable_ even.

She tested the theory, trying to pull her fingers away from his arms.

"How do we get _unstuck_ , Professor?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"That's a question for Madam Pomfrey." She gave them what was likely supposed to be a comforting smile. "Combining Runes with charms is rather powerful, but I'm sure our resident Healer is up for the task. You have my permission to make your way there now."

"Thanks ever so much," Hermione could not keep the snark from her voice.

It was so disconcerting to be _touching_ Riddle. She slid her hand down to his wrist, but was unable to wrench away. She pressed her foot up to his leg, and this time was able to let go of his arm, but now the toe of her shoe was touching the edge of his trousers and his rage was palpable.

"What are you doing?" he snapped.

"Just experimenting," she mumbled. "I don't fancy _holding your hand_ all night."

"Well would you kindly get your foot off of my leg?" He looped his arm through hers in an almost gentlemanly way that was ruined when he tugged her roughly forward. "Come on," he tore his leg away, "let's get this over with."

"Fantastic," she said with a sneer, breathing in deeply. "You're the last person I want to be stuck with in this school," she promised him.

He eyed her frostily. "You're the reason we're in this situation."

Merlin, but his scent assaulted her...like cloves and parchment and ink and peppermint tea. Her nostrils flared distractedly as they left the classroom amid snickers and catcalls.

What had she gotten herself into?

 **~8oOo8~**

Of all the rotten luck.

To be stuck with the know-it-all-swot herself, perhaps it was fate?

How did one go about furthering their private Dark Arts education and checking on slumbering basilisks with a damned Mudblood on their arm?

Her curly hair tickled his chin.

Growling, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her harshly, immediately throwing her off balance.

"What the bloody hell, Riddle?" she had the audacity to shriek at him, as if she had a death wish. "You'd better stop _manhandling_ me."

Now the kitten was making threats. Tom would almost call it cute if he tolerated such a feeling. She had a knack for summoning emotions from him he never thought he was capable of feeling.

"Part of me wonders if you consciously made this _little mistake_. You're not one to usually succumb to error."

The Gryffindor furrowed her brows, mulling over his words. "Thanks for the gesture of good faith, but why would I intentionally get us stuck together? Believe me - no one hates this more than me." She glanced around, only just taking in her surroundings. "This isn't the way to the Hospital Wing." Her gaze turned accusatory and Riddle could feel it burning through his skull. "Where are you taking us?"

"The Head's Dorms," he answered easily. "Madam Pomfrey won't be able to help us - it will take dark magic to break a Hydra-bound curse."

She gasped. "Dark magic!"

"That's correct," he said, continuing to haul her up the stairs. "Don't act like you aren't intrigued by the Dark Arts." He paused to stare intently at her. "I know otherwise," he told her cryptically.

For a brief moment, she openly gaped at him whilst remaining blessedly silent. Her hair was unruly as ever, but beneath the riotous curls was a rather... _symmetrical_ face...yes - that was the word. Her amber eyes were stormy and full of questions. Freckles distractedly graced her nose. He felt the pull he often felt whenever they happened to brush against each other - which he usually avoided at all costs - and when her lips parted in shock, he knew she felt it too. _And so it starts again._

"I would not sanction any solution that involved the Dark Arts, Riddle." Her voice came out rushed and slightly husky.

He rolled his eyes, uncaring of keeping up the Head Boy charm when it was just her he had to contend with.

"Billywig," he muttered to the portrait guarding Head's Common Room. "Come on," he called over his shoulder. "I need to break the blasted _curse_ you inflicted us with before things get far worse."

She was stepping closer to him, he could feel the whisper of her breath on the skin of his neck, and though it was likely unintentional on her part, it was still alarming. The urge to allow her to invade his carefully guarded personal space was almost _aching_ in it's intensity, but Tom was nothing if not disciplined.

"Riddle," she breathed as he walked her towards the couches. "I...I think there are some effects from the spell...some _side effects_ that I don't believe can be happening right now - but they are."

A roguish smirk pulled at his lips. "And why do you think that, Granger?"

They sat on the opulent sofas and Tom looked at her politely as he fished for his wand.

"I'm not sure why or _how_...but it's as if there's some magnetic pull between us-"

His brows rose, blissfully aware of how close she was. "Magnetic? How pathetically Muggle."

She ignored him. "It's quite strong...the impulse to slide closer to you...and where you are gripping my wrist...I just feel an incredible amount of heat...it's bloody _searing..._ and I can hardly breathe." She glanced at him with frightened eyes. "Riddle, whatever this is, _break it now._ "

She was so clinical in her assessment, and so _naive._ "I can break the binding charm, but the... _side effects_ are another problem entirely."

"Oh?"

"Yes, I've been doing a little research on that actually."

"Slipped me a love potion, have you?" She immediately clapped her free hand over her mouth, horrified at what she'd just revealed to him, and evidently worried if she was incorrect in her assessment.

"It isn't that." He gripped the pale, yew wand in his hand, deriving strength from the familiar wood. "An ancient Gaunt curse, I'm afraid. You see, not many know of it, I only discovered it during some research I did into my estranged family in fifth year, but we actually have Veela blood in our veins."

"Veela?" Awareness crystallized in her brown eyes. "Is that why your features get so sharp and cruel when you get angry? Do you turn into a bird and sprout wings? Do you mean to slice through my throat with your sharp beak?"

Tom chuckled, the sound rumbling through his chest. "Not exactly. I'm only half-veela as my mother coupled with a Muggle," he reluctantly told her. "But regrettably, there are some rather irritating side effects that seemed to have been passed on through the Gaunt lines." He pressed his lips into a thin line. "It appears I'm destined a mate. Perhaps that's partially why the castle was able to bring me to this time during my...experimentations. Whatever the case, I was brought here and I discovered soon enough who my _mate_ is. Not to worry, though, I'm sure I can find my way around it. I won't be a slave to fate."

Surprise exploded across her face. "Are you an idiot?" Her eyes were wide as she appraised him skeptically. "Do you really think you can go against your mate-bond? You have no control in the situation whatsoever."

 _The same thing she always says,_ he mused, thinking about the other times when they'd happened to touch and the blasted mate-bond had reared it's ugly head. Of course, she wasn't privy to that knowledge... _anymore._ "I absolutely have control," he informed her imperiously. "I've been studying heavily on the subject and I'm sure I can find my way around it. I won't be forced with a _sodding Mudblood_ , mate-bond or not."

"You're mate is a Muggle-born?"

She looked like she may laugh and Tom debated _Crucio'ing_ her for it. The nerve of the witch! Of course, the last time he'd called upon the curse and directed it her way - nothing happened - another very _unwelcoming_ effect of his Veela heritage.

He ignored the tantalizing urge to press his lips against her pouting ones and catch her in a searing kiss, he was used to dismissing such feelings but it hadn't made it any easier. "I thought you were supposed to be _the-brightest-witch-of your-age_? You're _my mate_ , and I won't have myself bound to some silly little girl."

For the second time that night, words failed Hermione Granger, and she merely stared stupidly at him.

He sighed in annoyance. "Raise your finger," he demanded. "I need to prick it and collect a spot of blood for this particular spell. It won't hurt very much."

"I-I'm your mate?" She bit her lip and tilted her head to the side whilst relenting her finger. Terror had initially sparked through her expressive eyes, but it was slowly giving way to curiosity and...interest.

"Unfortunately, yes, so you see the reason why I simply must find a way to sever the bond."

"But won't that be painful?"

Tom grew nauseous when he saw the concern that flickered over her face. "I'm not averse to pain. Comes with the territory when you split your soul."

"Split your soul? But part of your soul is _mine,_ Riddle." She seemed to have no idea where the possessive thought had come from, and looked frightened to even have uttered the words.

His lips twisted cruelly and a murderous glint burned in his eyes. "Nothing is yours, _Granger._ And for the record," -he pricked her finger and his with a well-aimed cutting hex, she didn't even blink- "I've done so twice," he told her smugly. "It's a bit unavoidable when making horcruxes."

"Horcruxes?"

A shiver of delight sparked down his spine. It gave him an odd, quite giddy feeling in the pit of his stomach to hear her say that word. "That's right, Pet. My path to immortality, so you see - I cannot have a mate - because _only I can live forever_."

Hermione frowned and perched her free hand on her hip all the while keeping an eye on the droplets of their mingled blood that hovered in the air. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," she informed him bluntly. "There's no way to break your mate-bond and whatever this _horcrux-business_ is, it sounds dark and I don't like it."

He scowled. "You don't have to like it."

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why are you being so candid with me, anyway?"

He smirked, then raised his wand and she felt the dark, powerful magic bristle across her skin as he summoned it. His magic tugged at her own, enticing it to come out and play. Hermione briefly closed her eyes in bliss, relishing in the comforting feel of their intertwined magic.

Then she felt his magic push at where there hands were connected. The droplet of blood in the air abruptly vanished and the she heard a pop as the connection between them was harshly severed, yielding to Tom's oppressive magic. Her hand burned as she pulled it away, and examined it, but saw no damage to her skin.

Tom withdrew his own hand, but there was a part of him that wanted to reach out for her...to pull her forward and press his body up to hers. The thought made him sick with disgust whilst simultaneously capturing his interest at the same time.

"You ask why I'm so candid with you this afternoon?" He forced a wicked smile on his face and sensed the resulting wariness rolling off of her in waves. "Call it _assurance_ \- I know you won't remember our conversation in a few moments."

She gripped the cushions tightly with her hands, her knuckles going white as she instantly recognized the threat. "Riddle, _Tom,_ " she tried, "you aren't going to-"

Tom didn't need to utter the curse to cast it precisely and effectively. The light green spell of his memory charm collided with her head. Hurt and alarm briefly flashed across her eyes before they became blissfully unaware and... _peaceful_.

Something twisted violently in his gut and sweat actually began to culminate on his forehead, but he - as ever - ignored it all and completed the Obliviate charm swiftly.

 **~8oOo8~**

Hermione had one massive headache in her early morning Herbology class and it was all she could do to keep the long, prickling vines of the Snargaluff plant from tangling in her hair. Part of her wished she had stayed in her dorm that morning because the ache in her head was so irritatingly prevalent.

One renegade bramble vine did manage to weed it's way into her hair and she tried desperately to swot at it with one hand whilst reaching for a pair of secateurs with the other. She needn't have bothered though, the illustrious Head Boy had once again arrived to save the day.

She didn't know why her body became instantly alert at the sight of his pale, yew wand directed at her head, but she couldn't fight the rather prominent feeling of trepidation that flared up inside her chest. Her pulse throbbed at her temples and her fingers itched for familiar vine wood. His excellently cast severing charm found it's target easily and sliced off the vines from tugging on her hair.

"Thanks," she muttered, pulling renegade curls into a ponytail and away from the clingy plant.

There was something about Riddle that made her nervous. He was intense and bloody _offputting._ She didn't know why no one else seemed to see it. She couldn't help but feel like he was always wearing a mask and keeping up a carefully erected facade in front of all the students and professors. She desperately wanted to find out the mysteries she sensed lurking in his eyes.

"Don't mention it," he replied, taking care to not touch her as he brushed past her. For a second, she captured his gaze, his dark and mysterious gaze she couldn't help but feel was teeming with secrets, and _she couldn't breathe_.

There was a rather strange feeling that stabbed at her heart - one of _profound loss_ \- and for the shortest moment, she could swear he felt it too.

It was silly, of course.

The Head Boy barely ever spoke to her except for when he was forced to in class or whilst assigning prefect duties.

Still, there was something about him that was rather... _unsettling._

 **~8oOo8~**

* * *

 _Please review_


	5. Chapter 5: A Bad Day for Flying

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count :** 2,565

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

* * *

 **Story Title :** A Bad Day For Flying

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Drama, Comedy

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger

 **Summary :** A bad day at flying class causes absolute destruction and despair. How will our favorite trio prevail?

* * *

 **A Bad Day For Flying**

* * *

It was a typical autumn morning. The sun was out but the air was crisp. It would be a good day for flying class, and Madam Hooch was excited to be there. The class was approaching when Madam Hooch says sternly "To your broomsticks children, pip pip." Hermione, a little more eager than normal today, steps up quickly aside her broom. The rest of the class falls in line accordingly.

"Today, class, we will be practicing our flying agility," Hooch explained. "I've set up rings from that end of the field, all the way to the river. Your goal is to go full speed through all those rings while staying upon your broomstick. As long as you stay the course we have safety measures already prepared. If you leave course, you are on your own. Who's to be first?"

Hermione practically jumps out of her robes with her hand raised. She had been practicing all summer and she was ready to show her skills. Draco stepped forward. "Forget you, Granger, I'll show you how it's done." Madam Hooch simply watches as Draco calls his broom and takes off toward the first ring.

"You think he's going to do it, Harry?" Ron says as he leans over an anxious Hermione.  
"Move Ron, I want to be next." Hermione states.

Harry chuckles and then replies "Maybe, Ron, or maybe he'll fall in the river."

Ron smiles. "Bloody hell, Harry."

Draco is finally in position and he takes off at full speed. Swooping left, he easily goes through the first ring. He drops low to the ground and goes right through the second ring. He's got to rise up quickly and make it right a little to hit the third ring and he does. Just over the wall he hits the fourth ring and dives straight down the wall through ring number five. The last ring is a steep climb right over the river. Draco appears to be coming in too low and…he makes it through the final ring. A few students start cheering and Draco takes a victory lap back over the wall.  
"Okay, class, I'm looking for my next volunteer!" Hooch said loudly.

Hermione again jumped with hand raised, and even a tiny grunt was let out with each leap. Ron pushed his way by her. "We can't let Malfoy show us up now, can we?" he exclaimed. Ron jumped onto his broom and was off toward the first ring.

Harry walked up and put his arm around Hermione. "It's going to be okay, Hermione, I'm sure you'll be next." "Thanks Harry," she said as she smiled. Hermione took a slight pause. "Will you hold my necklace for me while I go?" she then asked.

"Sure thing!" Harry happily agreed.

Ron approaches his starting position. He looks straight into the first ring and takes a deep breath. Ron darts off at full speed, with a quick swoop left he's through the first ring. Ron drops down to almost ground level as he approaches the second ring. He thinks to himself, "I'm going to show Draco!" He passes through the second ring but his foot catches the ring and the broom comes out from underneath him. Ron spirals forward through the air and tumbles across the field. The sound of laughter can be heard from Draco and his friends.  
"You shut up, Draco!" yelled Harry. "I'll bet Hermione shows you up!"

"In your dreams, Potter," Draco smirked.

As Ron was being catered to, Madam Hooch looked over her class. "Who's next?" she asked.  
Hermione jumped forward this time, pronouncing "I would like it to be my turn, Madam Hooch. I've been practicing all summer and I want to show you what I can do."

"Go right ahead, Miss Granger," Hooch replied.

Hermione calls her broom. "Up!" It doesn't even flinch. She tries again. "UP, I said!" The broom barely twitches. Hermione closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Up," she says calmly. The broom pops up and snaps quickly into her grasp.

"She should be quick," Draco says as Hermione mounts her broom.

"About to be quicker than you!" Hermione says as she darts off toward the start of the course.

"What do you think Harry? Do you think she's got this?" Ron asked nervously.

"I don't know, Ron. I hope," Harry says with half a breath.

Hermione lines up at the start. She suddenly gets nervous and the broom jerks side to side. Gripping hard, she concentrates harder and the broom settles. She opens her eyes, pulls back, and off she goes towards the first ring. Swooping left, she passes through the first ring. She lowers to the ground on the way to the second and zips right through it. Rising up quickly and fading right she aces the third ring without a problem. Hermione sees the wall in front of her and pulls up to get through the ring above it. Her nerves kick in again and the broom jerks left. The wall is getting closer. She gets scared and the back end of the broom kicks up, raising her butt off the seat, but she makes it over the wall and through the fourth ring. She pulls the broom closer to her body as she dives down the side of the wall and clears the fifth ring. She pulls up and it's a clear shot to the sixth ring, if she can get high enough. Her aim looks promising and she is getting excited. The sixth ring approaches. She can't help but think that all her hard work over the summer has paid off.

A few feet from the ring her broom jerks left again, ramming her directly into the left side of the last ring. Hermione and her broom separate, and she goes into a freefall. As she is falling toward the river, Madam Hooch reassures the class that there are safety measures at the water. Hermione, who doesn't like to fail, pulls out her wand. "Accio broomstick!" she screams as she curves her wand in the air. Then, moments before she hits the safety mark over the water. the broom gets to her and she flies off away from the water. She's going the wrong direction, though, and disappears behind the school building away from the class' sight.

The broom decides to go crazy. Jerking back and forth, then up and down, sometimes spinning her around. She grips hard trying to gain control. She pulls up and the broom appears to settle. Suddenly, she's thrusted forward and her legs lose grip on the broom. She slides off her broom, but still manages to hold on with one hand. The broom takes off again. Hermione manages to grab on with the other hand. She starts trying to pull herself up.  
The broom suddenly drops and Hermione grabs ahold hanging upside down. She looks up to see the path she was flying when, all of a sudden, she crashed through the window of the Potions classroom and went full speed into a large cauldron of Erumpent Potion. This killed her instantly, and also caused the potion to explode, killing the rest of the potions class with her, even Professor Snape. The loud boom of the explosion could be heard for miles.  
"Hermione!" shouted Ron and Harry as they saw the smoke rising over the school wall. They both take off running toward the school, only for Madam Hooch to stop them.

"Boys! We are going to have to stay put until we know what's going on." Hooch sternly says.  
"But what about Hermione?!" Harry yelled.

The explosion had caused several containers of explosive fluid, sitting near Snape's large cauldron, to enter the corridor and simply incinerate every student in all the neighboring classrooms.

"We've got to do something, Harry!" Ron said urgently.

"I know, Ron, but how do we get away from Madam Hooch?" Harry replied.

Draco approached Ron and Harry. "Listen, fellas, I want to get out of here too, so I got this. You'll know when to run." The blonde boy sauntered away casually, heading in the opposite direction.

"UP!" Draco yells suddenly, running toward his broom. The broom flies across the field into his hands and Draco jumps on, taking off.

"What do you think you're doing, Mr. Malfoy?" Madam Hooch yells up towards him.

"I was thinking of taking a second run, or, better yet, hey, Goyle! Come race me!" Draco called. Goyle grabs his broom and then he is off heading toward Draco.

"You think this is our sign, Ron?" Harry said curiously.

"Bloody hell, I don't know Harry." Ron replied.

"Let's go." Harry whispered.

Harry and Ron took off running. As they got the doorway of the school they could finally hear Madam Hooch yelling for them but it was too late as they made it inside. "What are we going to do Harry?" Ron wondered. Just then, students went running by, screaming and crying. Harry sees Cedric Diggory and stops him.

"Cedric, what happened?" Harry asked

"I don't know exactly, Harry, but at least four classrooms are gone and many students have died." Cedric said as he helped students get by in the corridor.

"Oh no, I hope Hermione is okay…" Harry said, feeling a bit dejected.

"I hope she wasn't the one on the broom," replied Cedric. "A student crossing the walkway said they saw a girl crash through the window on a broom, and then the explosion happened."

"That was Hermione!" exclaimed Ron.

"I'm sorry for your loss, guys." Cedric said sadly. He then turned and continued down the corridor, helping students get through.

Harry and Ron huddled in the corner of the corridor by the old artist painting. "We've lost our friend," said Harry, fighting back tears.

"I never told her this, but she is an amazing witch," replied Ron. "Bloody hell, Harry. What do we do?"

"I still don't know, mate. I wish I did. All I have left of her is this necklace she had me hold." Harry said.

"Young man," the artist in the painting said. "What you are holding is a Time-Turner. Simply give it a spin, and go back and help save your friend."

"Give it a spin, you say?" Harry responded questioningly.

"Yes, dear boy. Put the necklace on, pull it on both sides and it will spin!" the artist proclaimed.

"Here. Put this around you too, Ron. You can help." Harry said, wrapping the chain around his friend, as well as himself, and giving it a pull.

As the Time-Turner started spinning, Ron looked up and it suddenly appeared like everyone was running back down the corridor, but backwards. Cedric appeared again in front of him, speaking backwards very quickly and then disappearing again. Then, like a flash, everything was quiet.

Ron and Harry looked around in disbelief. "Have we really gone back in time, Harry?" Ron said with much question in his voice.

"For the hundredth time, I don't know Ron." Harry replied. It was just then that they noticed a prefect walking down the hall. It was Cedric.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be out at flying class?" Cedric hollered down the corridor. "Yes!" Harry replied. "We are running late, sorry!"

Ron and Harry entered the doorway. Ron looked over at Harry. "What do we do Harry?"

"Ron, I swear. I will make you eat slugs like you did before if you ask me that again," Harry said anxiously. "It looks like Draco is flying now," he observed. "I'm trying to think how we can stop Hermione from flying."  
"Hey, I could knock Draco out of the course with a spell and then maybe it will change something!" Ron said as a smile grew on his face.

Harry looked straight at Ron. "Well, technically, I could just blast you over there with a spell and stop you from flying second and maybe that would change everything."

"Bloody hell, Harry." Ron exhales as he says.

"Plus, Draco helped us out a little bit ago...or in a little bit…or...I don't know Ron. Just no hitting Draco with a spell!" Harry insisted. "He's done now anyways. Now you're up. This is where she hands me the Time-Turner."

"I'm about to totally blow this second ring," Ron mumbles. "You should have let me blast Draco."

Harry pushes up his glasses. "Hey, wait, when you tumble I walk away from my broom. I have an idea!"

Ron's face seeps as he watches himself flip through the air and tumble toward the ground.

"There I go," Harry says. "Accio broomstick!" The broomstick flies toward the doorway and right through it and bounces off the wall only to land in front of Harry. Harry grabs his broom, jumps on, and flies right out the window of the corridor. As he gets slightly above the rooftop, he sees Hermione already flying up to ring three. Harry darts off toward the left Viaduct Tower. As he approaches the tower, he looks over at Hermione. Harry knows that he has to wait until she's behind the building so the class can't see him.

He sees Hermione slam into the sixth ring and watches her fall. Harry remains hidden behind the tower. Hermione recovers only to lose her grip again. Harry sees her dangling from the broom and yet, she recovers again. He takes off to intercept her and they collide. They bounce off of each other and only Harry was able to hang on to his broom. As Harry tries to regain control, he watches Hermione fall toward the ground. Harry dives as fast as he can trying to get to her.

It's not going to be enough. He's not going to make it in time. The fear grows and Harry can already feel the water filling in his eyes. Right before she hit, he closed his eyes and hoped he wouldn't hear the sound of her impact.  
He heard nothing except the wind whistling in his ears. He opened his eyes to see that Ron had saved her.  
Ron flew in on the broom he stole from himself and caught Hermione before she hit the ground. Ron flew her down to the ground where they met up with Harry and explained to Hermione all that had happened.

Hermione kissed Ron on the cheek. "Thank you, Ron. I'm guessing we should get back to class."

"Which way do you think we should go, Harry?" Ron asked, already heading off in one direction.

"You know what, Ron, we should actually go this way." Harry replied with a laugh while pointing the other direction.

* * *

 _Please review_


	6. Chapter 6: Squeaky Green Voices

**Prompt:** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count:** 3078

 **Note:** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer:** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

* * *

 **Story Title :** Squeaky Green Voices

 **Rating:** T

 **Genre:** Drama

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing:** none

 **Summary :** Neville has created another potions catastrophe, but this time, it's affecting everyone's sense of hearing-and Ron's ability to eat lunch

* * *

Squeaky Green Voices

* * *

"Hermione."

Harry's comically-loud whisper made her want to roll her eyes. Hard.

Hermione glanced up from her cauldron and shook her head at him. _No_ , she was not going to whisper loudly across the Potions classroom so Professor Snape and everyone in class could hear her every word, thank-you-very-much. She turned her attention back to her work. Professor Snape had assigned her Chelidonium Miniscula to brew; it was a fussy potion and it required painstaking diligence for it to come out correctly. She didn't have time for the boys and their ludicrous theories right now.

"Hermione!"

She looked up and shook her head more violently this time. Was Harry daft? Blind? Or simply too stubborn to wait until after class?

Glancing to her right, she realized she'd left Neville on his own for a moment. Her struggling lab-table partner was looking around blankly like he'd forgotten why he was in the Potions classroom in the first place. _Damn. Looks like I'm going to have to help him…right after I add the chopped Motherwort…_

Lately, helping Neville had become a bit trickier. Last month, Professor Snape had changed the in-class assignments so that now, she and Neville were only table partners instead of lab partners: they shared a table, but each of them brewed a different potion. To top it all off, Professor Snape always made sure the brewing instructions for her potion were decidedly…complex.

Needless to say, she was thankful she had her own cauldron.

" _HERMIONE!"_

That was it. She was going to _kill_ Harry James Potter long before You-Know-Who ever got the chance.

 _Fine_. She wasn't getting any work done anyway.

She motioned for Harry to come over. She might be inviting the interruption to come closer, but there was _no way_ she was going to leave her potion at this critical moment. Besides, if Professor Snape was in a bad enough mood, he'd flay anyone who dared to walk away from their cauldron this late during brewing. It wasn't going to be her, thank-you-very-much. Not because Harry was being stupid.

Hermione watched as Harry looked around for Professor Snape, and, seeing he was deep in conversation on the other side of the room with one Draco Malfoy, he snuck over to her. Ron followed.

Both of them? How much more obvious could they be?

Once again, Hermione struggled not to roll her eyes.

"What was so important that it couldn't wait until after class?" she huffed, crossing her arms in annoyance.

From behind her, she heard Neville's chair scrape along the slate classroom floor. Hermione swung around to discover Neville on his knees, sorting through various pieces of parchment.

He looked up at her, his eyes full of dread. "I knocked them off by accident. Sorry," he mumbled.

 _Gods_ , she was surrounded by idiots.

"I saw Snape talking to Malfoy, right after breakfast in the hall by Charms. I think they're planning something. Something big," Harry said, his eyes bright. Ron nodded from behind Harry, encouraging Hermione to agree.

" _That's_ what you came over here to tell me?"

"It fits what I've been saying all along about Malfoy. Something's up with Snape. I'm telling you—"

From the right of Hermione came a squeak. She turned to find Neville with his mouth open in surprise and the colour draining from his face. Oblivious to Neville's panic, Harry rambled on. "Look, Snape's talking to Malfoy again right now."

"Just a second, Harry." Hermione said over her shoulder. "Neville, what's wrong?"

"I just remembered that I already added the Motherwort, but I'm sure the recipe called for whole leaves, not chopped ones."

Hermione glanced down at the parchment in Neville's hands. "These are _my_ notes. _My_ assignment, Neville. Wait, have you been using the wrong instructions since you picked up the parchments off the floor?"

"Eh, maybe?" he said. "I'm not sure…?"

"Brilliant."

She took a step closer to Neville and peered into his cauldron. Suddenly, it emitted a green mist. It smelled deliciously like cut grass.

"What's that?" Ron said, peering around Harry and taking a step closer himself. "Not like mine. Smells wonderful."

Harry said, "Yeah, it's great. Neville, is that yours?"

"I think it might be."

And then the scent vanished.

Professor Snape chose that moment to saunter over to Hermione's lab table. He looked into Neville's cauldron disdainfully.

"Mr Longbottom, the results of your efforts are abysmal, as usual," Snape drawled. "Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape turned his back on them and started to walk away. "See me in my office tomorrow to redo your assignment."

o0o0o

The early spring day was unusually warm, beckoning Harry, Ron, and Hermione out of the castle and onto the grounds for the free hour after Potions. They made their way to the lake.

Halfway around, Hermione asked, "Mind if we stop here for a little while?" She indicated a bench in the shade of a great oak. "You can tell me all about what you think Professor Snape is planning with Malfoy."

Ron strolled to the water's edge and practiced skipping stones across the surface of the lake.

"Sure," Harry said, sitting down on the grass, and leaning back on his hands. "Hey, did you…did you guys just hear something? Like someone speaking?"

"Harry, you know you have to do your best to block You-Know-Who's thoughts—" Hermione began.

"Did it sound like a snake? Is there a snake around? Maybe it was Parseltongue—" Ron said from a few feet away.

"No and _no_ ," Harry said, cutting across them. "A smaller voice, almost…squeaky."

"Squeaky?" Hermione asked.

"It's never good to hear voices," Ron added, most unhelpfully.

"Thanks, Ron," Harry said tightly. "There it is again." Harry looked around.

"What did the voice say?" Hermione asked.

"Ouch."

"You okay, mate?" Ron asked over his shoulder.

"No. I mean, _yes_. I'm fine. The _voice_ said, 'Ouch'."

"The squeaky voice said 'Ouch'?" Ron asked. "Is The Ferret nearby? Could've been him."

"Ron, _really_ ," Hermione said, this time, giving in to her desire to roll her eyes.

"'Mione, Harry's hearing voices again. Just trying to keep things light, in case, you know, he's gone barking."

"I've not, _you know_ , gone barking."

"Ron, you're no help at all," Hermione said. She started to unpack her rucksack on the bench, creating a teetering pile of homework that anyone else would have found intimidating.

"You won't say that once you find out whose voice he's hearing now," Ron said, turning to look at Hermione and smirking significantly.

"And whose voice is that?" Hermione said.

"Hello? Guys? I'm right here. You know, the person that's hearing voices can also hear you talking about him." Harry got up from the ground. "Wait. The voices are gone."

Hermione's tower of textbooks lost balance and went careening onto the lawn. She huffed impatiently.

"Let me…" Harry bent over to pick up one of the books, his hand brushing the grass. "There it is again!"

"What did it say this time?" Ron said while he searched for another smooth stone among the piles at the water's edge.

"It said, 'Ouch! I'm crushed! Help me!'"

"You don't think—" Hermione began.

"What?"

"You don't think the grass is talking to you? Do you?"

"Barking," Ron called over his shoulder. "You're both barking."

"Maybe." Harry walked over to a nearby oak and slowly laid his hand on the bark. "I think the tree is humming." He cocked his head to the side. "No, not humming. Singing."

"Harry, I think you can hear plants—but only when you touch them."

"That's…well, that's…"

"Okay," Ron said, leaving the water's edge. "But now I'm hearing a voices that are saying, 'It's lunch time'. What do you think, mate? Can we grab some lunch? You don't hear voices inside the castle, right?"

o0o0o

"Fine. So Harry's hearing the little blades of grass speak. And trees. That's not so bad. Could be worse," Ron said in a voice that was only slightly shaky.

"Could be worse?" Hermione said, her voice raising a pitch. She reached for the pumpkin juice and poured herself a glass. "Harry is hearing grass speak and 'it could be worse'?"

"My mum told me about a witch who once—"

"Honestly, Ron!"

Ron stuffed a roll in his mouth and tried to continue. "Yeah, mum said that—"

She gave Ron her best exasperated look. "Pass me the salad, would you, Harry?" Hermione said, purposely cutting across Ron.

Hermione scooped the greens onto her plate and speared some with her fork. When she bit down, tiny… _squeaky_ screams erupted from her mouth. She froze.

"Hermione, what's wrong?"

She grabbed her napkin and spit out her mouthful of food.

"The…the…salad is screaming…" she managed.

"Beg your pardon?"

"The salad, it's…it's…alive."

"Fabulous. You've both gone barmy," Ron said, reaching for yet another roll.

Hermione poked the greens left on her plate with her finger and recoiled. _She could hear them._ She looked across at Harry; he raised an eyebrow and touched a leaf, too.

"Can you hear them?"

"Yeah." Harry said, his eyes wide.

"They're terrified."

"Wouldn't you be if you were about to be eaten?"

"You two have been hanging around Loony Lovegood a bit too much," Ron said, reaching into a large bowl for an apple. He took a bite.

Suddenly, Ron sprung up and out of his bench—backing away from the table with one big push and spitting out the bite of apple into his hand. "Oi! It's yelling at me! It's screaming, 'I'm being ripped apart!'"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance.

Harry reached for a banana from another fruit bowl and started to peel it. He dropped it so abruptly, Hermione gave a start.

The colour drained from Harry's face.

"What did it say?" Hermione asked.

Harry cleared his throat, scrunched up his face, and said in a high-pitched voice, "'Ah! My skin, my skin! The agony!'"

"Sweet Merlin," Ron whimpered. "Do you mind if we get out of here?"

o0o0o

The three abandoned the rest of their lunch and walked to the courtyard; Hermione was careful not to touch anything green.

"So, all three of us can hear plants?" Harry asked, settling down on a stone bench.

"Not all plants," Ron said, rotating his wand in his hand, "just ones that are still alive."

"I think it's only when we touch them to our skin," Hermione said.

"Or our teeth," Ron said shakily.

"Or our teeth," Hermione conceded. "I think we'll be okay if we avoid contact."

"Yeah," echoed Ron shakily, "if we avoid contact."

"Okay, let's think about this," she said. "It started directly after Potions, right? Do you think it has something to do with what Neville made in class? Remember the green grass odor we all smelled that was coming from his cauldron? Maybe this is an after-effect."

"Certainly a possibility," Harry conceded.

"We need to find Neville."

o0o0o

Apparently, Neville was camped out in—of all places—the Hogwarts greenhouse.

"Hullo," he called when they entered. "I wondered when you guys would get here."

Hermione ran her hands over the leaves of the potted plants, careful to avoid the Venomous Tentacula. The greenhouse chatter sounded like the Quiddich Pitch during a particularly contentious game between Gryffindor and Slytherin: noisy, unruly, and petulant.

… _hey! get your leaf outta my sun!…help! I'm stuck…move over, would ya! you're blocking my light!...thirsty…so very thirsty…why is this pot so small?..._

"So you guys can hear them, too? Isn't it fabulous?" Neville asked, his eyes bright with wonder.

"Fabulous?" echoed Ron. "Not what I'd call fabulous. More like creepy."

"Apparently not all the comments are directed at us. It seems the plants communicate with each other," Hermione said.

Neville smiled rapturously. "It's true. I've already discovered that the Sopophorous despise being planted near Mimbulus Mimbletonia—the plant my Gran gave me."

"Fascinating, I'm sure," Ron said sardonically.

"I'm sure it _is_ fascinating, Neville," Hermione said, gifting Ron a dark look, "but we're going to leave, now. We just wanted to see if you were all right."

Neville's smile widened even further. "I am."

o0o0o

"If the greenhouse sounds like this, imagine what we could hear in the Forbidden Forest!" Hermione said breathlessly as the greenhouse door swung shut behind them.

"No," said Harry and Ron in unison.

"But we may never get an opportunity like this again! Imagine what we could learn!"

"Not a chance," said Ron.

"Absolutely not," said Harry.

"Wait. What if were like this forever?" Ron mused, his eyes growing wide. "And I can never eat an apple again? Or a banana? And what about watermelon?"

"Relax. I'm sure Snape will know what to do."

"Blimey, Harry, it's not like I've had voices in my head before. At least you have experience with it."

Harry frowned. "Like I said, I'm sure Snape will be able to fix it."

"Yeah, but who's gonna tell him?"

They both looked at Hermione. She sighed. There was never any question it would be her, was there?

o0o0o

Harry wrangled the heavy door to Snape's office open, and the three made their way inside.

"Professor Snape," Hermione said in greeting.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" he responded, eyeing Harry and Ron suspiciously as he looked up from his desk.

"The other day during Potions class, you asked Neville to brew Regerminating Potion," she said as steadily as she could, "and you asked me to brew Chelidonium Miniscula."

"I am more than aware of the assignments I give to my students," Professor Snape drawled in a bored voice.

"I believe there was some confusion during class and Neville, well, wound up brewing a combination of the two."

Professor Snape pursed his lips. "Is there a point to your blathering, Miss Granger? If so, please do get on with it."

"The potion that Neville inadvertently created produced a green vapor. I believe inhaling that vapor has given us the ability to hear plants communicate."

"Indeed?" Professor Snape raised an eyebrow and said nothing for a moment.

"Miss Granger, you were brewing the Chelidonium Miniscula…" he said, more to himself than Hermione. He rose from his desk and started pacing, his hands clasped behind his back. "Mr Longbottom was brewing Regerminating Potion…" He stopped and looked at Hermione. "Miss Granger, at what point do you believe the instructions were switched?"

"After I added the Motherwort to mine and Neville added the Knarl quills to his."

The Potions Professor seemed to be contemplating something. "Interesting," he finally said. "Come back tomorrow evening at this time and I will have a remedy."

"Tomorrow evening? You mean, we have to live with this until tomorrow evening?" Ron squeaked.

"Mr Weasley." The professor pursed his lips in annoyance. "Might I suggest that if you had stayed at your own table—as you were supposed to—and in front of your own cauldron, which contained your own deplorable excuse for a potion, you would not currently be a victim of Mr Longbottom's grave inadequacies."

"How am I going to eat a proper dinner? How am I doing to sleep tonight?" Ron whined.

"One more word, Mr Weasley, and I may inadvertently forget to make enough counter-agent for you."

Ron made a noise like a squeal but didn't say anything more.

"Rest assured, I will be able to counter the vapor's effects with a potion based on the Muffling Draught." Professor Snape walked toward the door in the back of the classroom. "You are dismissed," he said, opening the door and not looking back.

"You have to admit, the man is brilliant," Hermione said, her lips curling into a small smile.

Ron huffed a laugh. "Merlin, Hermione, the man's a contender for scariest bloke in the school. And that includes the ghosts."

o0o0o

Neville was late.

They had told Neville, of course, that the Potions Professor was brewing something to relieve them of their newly acquired skill; Neville had reacted strangely to the news, frowning to the point of tears, as if he was about to lose his best friend.

Not that Neville's tardiness was at all surprising—it was just that Hermione thought he would have made a special effort to arrive on time, knowing Professor Snape had made a special effort to brew an antidote so quickly.

Perhaps he wasn't even going to show up.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in front of Professor Snape's desk; four vials of bright yellow liquid glistened in the torchlight, one earmarked for each of the four _victims_ —as Professor Snape put it—of Neville's unauthorized concoction.

"Once you finish this potion, the effects of Mr Longbottom's accident will begin to diminish. I estimate they will be completely gone in a week to ten days."

Well, the sooner she could eat salad and fruit again, the better. Hermione grabbed the glass, threw her head back, and downed it in one long swallow. She watched, amused, as Harry and Ron eyed the yellow liquid warily; they both reached out slowly, simultaneously, picked up their respective doses, and began to drink. They looked terrified.

Seriously, did they think a Hogwarts professor was going to poison them?

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, smiling, even before the boys were done.

As they turned to leave, a breathless Neville sprinted in, skidding to a stop in front of Professor Snape's desk.

"Ah, Mr Longbottom." The Potions Professor indicated the lone filled glass that remained. "I see you've arrived to claim your antidote."

"Well…" Neville said, swallowing loudly. "Actually, I've thought about it and I'm quite all right, thank you, sir."

Professor Snape raised an eyebrow. "You do not wish to take the counter agent?"

"No, sir," Neville said in a trembling voice. "I mean to say that I don't mind the voices, Professor."

The professor was silent for a moment as Neville twitched nervously. "Very well," he said finally.

Neville's eyes widened. "Thank you, sir."

"Admittedly, you may have stumbled on something quite extraordinary. I will be sharing your findings with Professor Sprout. I suspect she will have questions for you."

"Of course, sir."

"You may take the antidote with you should you change your mind."

"One more thing, Mr Longbottom." He gifted Neville a grand smirk. "Even though my specialty is not Divination, let me assure you that your future lies solidly in Herbology, not Potions."

Neville smiled and scampered away, exiting the classroom with the boys.

Hermione met Professor Snape's eyes. "You know, Professor, I believe Neville might make an excellent Herbology Professor one day."

His lips twitched into an almost-smile, his dark eyes glittering. "I don't necessarily disagree, Miss Granger."


	7. Chapter 7: Confunded or Confundus?

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count :** 1,735

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

* * *

 **Story Title :** Confunded or Confundus?

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Fluffy Comedy

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Scorpius Malfoy / Albus Potter

 **Summary :** When he has nowhere else to turn, Scorpius ruins a quiet night in for Albus with an insight into what the Malfoy's do for fun.

* * *

 **Confunded or Confundus?**

* * *

Albus groaned as he rose from the sofa, his evening set in front of the television already thwarted by whatever annoyance had knocked on his door. He hoped it was a sales person; he quite fancied slamming the door in someone's face especially after the day he had with his father at work. He licked the crumbs from his fingers, already longing for his fist to be back in the bowl of nachos.

With a wave of his hand, his front door unlocked and he turned the doorknob to see the two blond heads on his front step. While surprised, Albus knew that Scorpius had a habit of turning up unannounced because of their 'relationship status', but to bring his father with him was odd - even for Scorpius.

"Scorpius. _Mr Malfoy_?"

Scorpius relaxed his shoulders, keeping a firm grip on his father's shoulder as he grinned. "Good evening old chap, _how is one on this blissful night?_ "

Albus, already knowing that he should have ignored the door, sighed, "you are _British_."

"Well done," Scorpius grinned.

" _No_ ," Albus groaned, lifting his hand to rub his forehead. "You are overly _British_. What have you done? You only ' _Bond'_ it up when you've gotten yourself into a ' _pickle'_ ," he mocked, but it seemed to go straight over Scorpius' head.

Scorpius face paled, and he looked close to passing out, something that he had never seen on his boyfriend's face before. "I may, or may not, have been duelling my father and… erased his memories."

" _YOU DID WHAT!_ "

* * *

Albus had been pacing for several minutes. He did this, but it wasn't worth his life to interrupt him, so Scorpius remained silent. His father, who was out of his mind, was slouched on the sofa making a real dent in the nachos that Albus had been far too happy about enjoying alone.

"Explain to me again," Albus growled, his tone thick of annoyance and impatience. "How the _bloody hell_ did you hex your father!"

He sighed. Why did he sigh? The look he received for it was enough to chill him to the bone and all he could do in retaliation was a smile and hope it was enough to allow it to pass.

Scorpius had explained it so many times he felt like it had gone beyond repeating, but he knew that this would not be the final time he told this tale.

It had been friendly; it had been fun and joyous. Tickling charms here and jelly-legs there; no one would get hurt or set to be. Scorpius should have seen it coming, his father had always had a competitive streak, and even his mother had told him on several occasions that he didn't know when to stop.

The downside to this, well the very reason they were all sat here, was that Scorpius was not as adept as his father. To be truthful, frank and utterly honest he only knew that spell with confidence.

Here they were.

"Are you positive that this is not a…" Albus was waving his hand in the air as he tried to find the words and Scorpius wanted to attempt to finish his sentence, but the vein throbbing in his head told him just to remain silent. If anything, Albus had a shorter leash with patience than his father did. "... Temporary thing and that you're simply, _Scorpius-ing_?"

"While I find it highly offensive that you are _verb-ing_ me. I am also a little ticked off that you wouldn't think I would check this," Scorpius replied. "However, the one positive is that my father is currently looking at you with the same annoyance he usually does, so that… has to count for something?"

It didn't - _well not according to Albus' reaction_ \- and as the door of the living room slammed behind his boyfriend, Scorpius turned his attention back to the man who looked close to frothing at the sight of the flickering television.

"Dad?" Scorpius said, the blond not acknowledging him at all. "Um… _Draco_?" His father was turning to look at him with eyes full. "Close your mouth, I think…" Scorpius cleared his throat, trying to fight the laugh that wished to emerge. "You may be a little cross to find that you're dribbling over your _custom suit_."

* * *

Albus knew that Scorpius wouldn't be pleased. He had come to him for the same reason that he would have gone to him - they didn't want anyone else involved and asking questions. As soon as Harry entered the room and took one look at the colleague who had once been his nemesis, he looked stumped.

"Reminds me of Lockhart," Harry mumbled as Scorpius yelped from the corner. The two Potter's turning to look at him as he cupped his mouth with his hand, but the fear was printed across his face. "Except, well that was permanent. This, I am afraid, is more like a concussion."

"So…" Scorpius spoke up. "You can reverse it?"

Albus met his father's expression, that frown line that was a no before he said it. It was a recognisable look among the family, one that even his mum would call out when she asked him to do something.

"I think it may be something we have to… _wait out,_ so to speak," Harry frowned as he slowly stood, brushing down his trousers as he turned to face Scorpius.

He tried not too, but he always felt jealous of how comfortable his father and boyfriend were around one another. They could discuss anything even though they had little in common, they were always just in sync, they both understood one another. Albus occasionally wished that came just as easy to him, not even just with his father but with Scorpius'.

Harry rubbed his hands together, a devilish smirk rising over his cheeks, "in the meantime, anyone for a game of _who said_?"

* * *

Scorpius shouldn't have agreed; he should have trusted Albus' shaking head before the disaster had struck. Mr Potter had begun to ask his father question after question, things that a son didn't need to hear from their father and some things that were outright bizarre.

For example, Scorpius did not need to know that Aunty Pansy had been his father's first… _conquest_. Likewise, he did not need to know that Albus's Aunty Hermione was a crush of his fathers for several years, but it was interesting to learn that his father had swum with the giant squid as part of a dare and had been naked at the time.

While the three of them laughed at their entirely oblivious man, it slowly began to dawn on Scorpius that if Draco Malfoy, his father, could recall all of these things and not know to speak them, that would also mean that he hadn't lost his memory. He was, well, confunded in the sense that he was magically-induced drunk.

This realisation dawned on the blond far too slowly, and if he had only thought a little more, he might have been able to stop the sudden return of his father who had branded his wand quicker than he had apparently stripped for the squid in his fifth year.

" _Dad_?" Scorpius said, his father's attention stolen from the man he looked ready to gut to him. "I… I thought that you were, I'm so sorry!"

Draco frowned, "what are you - what are we doing here, Scorpius?"

Rubbing the back of his head, avoiding the eyes of Albus and Mr Potter he slowly began to recount the tale. He told his father how the spell had caused him to lift off the ground by several feet and that apparently 'repressed feelings' can do that. Albus declaring an extremely sarcastic, " _no way, Salazar_ ", in the middle of this and realised that he had probably kept that part out the other ten times he had told this story.

"You… _hexed m_ e?" Draco spat.

Scorpius shrugged, lifting his arms to the side, "I think that is a bit like tomato or _to-may-to_ , you know?"

Draco looked at Harry with that expression only ever reserved for Scorpius, "Potter. As a neutral party, did my son hex me?"

Albus slowly glided beside his father and Scorpius, only just, was able to lip-read him telling him not to get involved, something that he was rather pleased about in the grand scheme of things.

"You always do this, Scorpius," his father sighed. "You turn something _fun and innocent,_ into some _barbaric_ contest -"

"- How, dare _thee_!" Scorpius interrupted. "I was reading _The Hobbit,_ and you just threw my wand at me and told me to give you your best shot. So if we are keeping score, _I won_."

"You _confunded_ me."

"Which, is not against the rules -"

"- _Because there are no rules,_ Scorpius!" Draco hissed. His eyes a piercing grey as they stared down at him and he honestly couldn't remember the last time he had seen his father so outraged in all his time. "All I did," he began, much calmer. "Was perform a simple charm, like so -"

As Scorpius watched his father reenact the very magic that had caused all of this and his hand involuntarily raised. His mouth had parted before his fathers did, " _Confundo_ ," he thought as the words slowly twisted out of his throat and lips.

The words began flowing into the air as he felt the magic course from the end of his fingers out into the air. His magic was an extension of him; it was the first lesson he had been taught by his father when he was young. It was more truthful at this moment than ever before. Scorpius could feel his power bending and twisting through the air until it met his father's chest like it had earlier. The man's eyes were widening wide just as they had done at home and he watched as his father, lifted into the air, his face changing from pure anger to a peaceful expression unfitting for his face.

With a slam back to the ground, his father's eyes shut once more.

"Are you _bloody serious_ , Scorpius!" Albus yelled, his face redder than he had ever seen it. Scorpius slowly lowered his arm, turning his attention to the other man as he caught sight of Mr Potter before he turned out of view, his face red also, but more from laughter than from annoyance.

* * *

 _Please review_


	8. Chapter 8: Saving Severus

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count :** 4495

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

* * *

 **Story Title :** Saving Severus

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Romance

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Severus Snape/Lily Potter

 **Summary :** Severus in a last attempt to save Lily sends her an owl with a journal that is to protect her, but the spell does more than just keep her safe it sends her 3 years in the future.

* * *

 _ **Saving Severus**_

* * *

The night was cold and muggy with not a witch or wizard in sight, except one. His long black robes were flowing in the wind as he walked down the dark street, his eyes fixed on a beautiful two-story cobblestone cottage. The second floor light shone bright as he saw the silhouette of a woman holding a small child. He watched her sadly before tearing his gaze from her delicate frame.

He let out a low whistle and heard the sound of a bird flapping its wings. A beautiful tawny owl came to view. The owl landed on a nearby trash can, ruffling its wings before letting out a hoot in response to him. The man reached into his pocket, grabbing an old notebook with a worn leather cover. Engraved in gold lettering was the name Severus Snape. Severus pulled out an ebony wand with an intricate pattern on the handle, before placing it gently on the journal. The journal glowed a bright gold and the engraved lettering changed to just a simple S.S. He flicked his wand once more and the notebook glowed bright blue before fading away. He pulled out one last thing from his pocket, a small card that read Lily, placing it gently in between the pages of the journal before turning to look at the stocky brown owl and handing it the journal softly saying

"Leave this on the doorstep."

The owl stretched out his wings taking off, flying over the hedge and silently dropping the book onto the front steps of the cottage. He looked to the window one last time. The woman finally came into view, her red hair shining. His heart ached as he noticed the small child in her arms. His mind wandered, he could never have that. The one person he loved could never love him back, when he always would. He let out a soft sigh and turned on his heel, his robes billowing behind him.

The sun shone through the blinds brightly, Harry's cries echoed through the house.

"James it's your turn," she groaned. There was no response. "James!" she cried again. There was still no response as Harry's cries grew louder.

She sat up quickly and turned to the sleeping form beside her, "seriously James?" she groaned as she got up, shuffling her feet toward Harry's room the cries growing louder. "Harry mummy's coming." she said as she gently rubbed her eyes and saw the pudgy baby, his face red green eyes watery as he stood up in his crib looking at her.

"Muuuuuummm".

She picked him up cooing at him. The boy giggled, his eyes lighting up. Harry smiled up at his mum.

"Mummy, Daddy?" he asked gesturing around the room, wondering where his father was.

"Daddy's a toerag who is still asleep. Want to go wake him?" Lily responded, slightly amused.

"Toe!" Harry exclaimed excited before he continued babbling in baby talk.

Lily smiled as she picked up her son, "you're right, toe. Now let's go, you can help me wake up your father."

She made her way back to her bedroom and dropped Harry on top of his father's sleeping form. Harry bounced happily saying "toe". James slowly shifted, being careful not to drop Harry and looked carefully at the pair

"What is that for?" Lily crossed her arms.

"I'm going to make breakfast."

"What? No kiss?" James asked. She sighed before pecking his lips and making her way down to the kitchen.

She started to prepare some pancakes and then noticed her cat, Snowball, was scratching at the door to be let out. Lily brushed his fur as she opened the kitty door, noticing a book-shaped package wrapped in brown paper laying at her doorstep. She unlocked the door and picked up the package, looking around to see if anyone was in sight. The closest person was a neighbor in their yard, watching their dog. Too far away to have left the package Lily thought. She reached down, gingerly picking up the package and opening the small card in the front, noticing in small vaguely familiar lettering one word "Lily".

She could not recall where she had seen that handwriting before, but took the package inside locking the door once more and placing the parcel on the table, plating the final pancake and cutting it up into small pieces so Harry could eat. She turned back to the bundle, wiping her hands on her apron as she picked it up once more. She flipped it over looking to see if there was any other writing. When she saw none she opened the package, revealing the leather bound journal. As soon as she touched it she felt a strange warmth spread through her body, a soft glow emanating through her skin. She quickly dropped the book, as if it burned.

"Bloody hell. What the heck was that?" she whispered, more to herself. Just as she was about to throw the book in the trash, James came stumbling down carrying Harry on his back, who was squealing with joy. She turned her attention to the duo, momentarily forgetting about the journal.

oOo

October 31st, 1981.

Godric's Hollow.

Lily had just gotten Harry to sleep and sat on the couch, her mind wandering to how she could protect her family, she did that a lot these days. Would Harry ever have a normal life? She needed to take her mind off of things so she went to the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle. Unscrewing the cap she noticed under a pile of books, the leather bound journal. She felt drawn to it, subconsciously moving closer pulling the book from underneath the pile, making sure that the other books didn't tumble. Just as she went to open the book she heard Harry cry. Sighing she went to his room, running into James on the stairs. Noticing her frustration he kissed her head.

"It will be alright Lily". She smiled at him, pecking his lips.

"I have to go check on Harry".

"I love you, remember that." James said, before letting her go.

She gave him a soft smile, "I love-". She got cut off by the front door suddenly opening.

James suddenly went serious, "get Harry and go!"

He brandished his wand, her eyes widened frightened as she hesitated and pulled her wand out, bounding up the stairs to Harry's aid. Harry cried loudly, his cheeks red. She tried to soothe him, her heart pounding as she heard a large thump. Eyes watering, she reached for Harry, but was too late. Voldemort told her to step aside. She couldn't let him hurt Harry, she wouldn't. The last thing she saw was a green light as she heard Harry's screams fade out and the darkness overcame her.

oOo

October 31st, 1984.

Hogwarts

Snape paced in his quarters drinking heavily, he couldn't believe it had been three years since he failed Lily since he practically delivered her family to Voldemort. He absolutely loathed the day his students noticed his foul mood during his classes as he took points from a child for wheezing to loudly. He didn't care, it was a way to soothe his battered heart.

He pondered going to dinner in the great hall but the thoughts of the laughter and joy on the children's faces was too much to bare even just thinking about it made him recall his own Hogwarts days and Lily giving him a chocolate frog after the so called Marauders decided it was funny to charm bats to follow him around causing the whole Great Hall to burst into laughter. He had left the hall, not wanting to hear their ridicule and Lily followed after chewing them out and when she found him she gave him a chocolate frog. Every year since then she would give him one until they stopped being friends and even then he would eat a chocolate frog so he would always remember that day.

He was drunk and emotional, silent tears streaming down his cheeks that he couldn't contain as he reached for the small box that held that sweet treat and just as he sunk his teeth into the sweet flesh of the candy he saw a flash of light near the fireplace and a women crumbled to the ground. He stood and was by her side in a flash, wiping at his tears not wanting anyone to see his moment of weakness. He froze when he saw the auburn hair, his heart thrumming, it couldn't be her. Was no way it was. He flipped her over gently and his heart leapt into his throat as he saw the familiar face of the woman he would always love: Lily was alive.

Softly he placed his hand on her neck to check for her pulse and as soon as he placed his hand on her skin her eyes fluttered open and Emerald met Onyx.

"Sev?" all color drained from his face as he stumbled back in surprised.

"It's not possible… I saw you die… Held you in my arms." Lily rubbed her eyes and sat up slowly.

"Wait what are you talking about Sev… where am I." he was in shock, unable to answer the woman it was not possible that she was alive, how it could be.

His mind was fuzzy maybe he had too much to drink he had to sit down his mind racing. Lily noticed that he seemed a bit distraught not understanding what was going on but taking in her surroundings. The room was dark lit only by the flames in the beautiful antique fireplace that was made out of stone. The whole room gave of a sophisticated look and seemed a bit dreary and dark the loveseat was a lovely shade of green. The chair that Severus was sitting in had intricate details in the same beautiful green shade behind Severus's chair was a door. She noticed most of the walls were covered with bookshelves that were crammed to the brim with all sorts of books. She move over to the loveseat her mind whirring.

Where was Harry? James? Why did Severus think she was dead? Why was she in what seemed to be his room? Why was Severus so drunk? She had never seen Severus cry, but his face was blotching and his eyes puffy like he had been crying. He paled when he saw her, she knew he hadn't seen her in years, but he looked at her like she was some type of ghost. She had a lot of questions but Severus wasn't answering her, just muttering a bit to himself every once in awhile.

She inspected the man that sat across from her. He looked taller and not as lean as his teenage years, though he looked way older than her, and stressed with tense shoulders. His face was covered so she couldn't see those eyes that she remembered from her childhood. The man next to her was not the boy she remembered, her magical childhood friend. His posture just showed her how broken he was and Severus wasn't one to drink. He did enjoy some wine once in awhile, but she had never seen him drunk, and he was hammered from what she could tell.

Her heart broke for her old friend. Why was he so sad, so broken? She silently got up and gently put her hand on his back rubbing circles like she did to Harry. Severus stiffened and bolted upright, standing quickly from his seat almost toppling over but catching himself and pulling out his wand pointing it at her.

"Who bloody are you and why would you play such a cruel joke?" his face showed more emotion than she had ever seen from him, but she wasn't about to allow the intoxicated man to harm her.

"Severus Snape! Put that wand down now before I hex you into oblivion." Her hands on her hips and a fierce glare rattled him she she was acting just like the Lily he knew his hand shaking a bit but wand still pointed in her direction.

"You are supposed to be dead… If you are who you say you are prove it." Lily thought about something that would make him believe her.

"On the train ride to Hogwarts you told me that I'd better be in Slytherin and that's when James and Sirius overheard and started to bug you and we left the train and well that's when they first called you that awful name." Severus thought back to that day, the day he expected for them to be sorted together the day that split them apart.

"Anyone could have overheard that. You could be bloody Black himself for all I know that's not good enough." She scrambled her brain for something that she felt would convince him she was truly who he said she was.

"After one particularly nasty hex from Sirius in our Fourth year, you broke your arm and I took you to see Pomfrey and she gave you some potion that made you act quite silly and then said you loved me, I of course was shocked but you said because we are best friends and it made more sense. I then told you of course that I love you too as a Friend." She looked to the man who turned red as he used to when the pair was younger. He put his wand down slowly.

"It really is you… unless you're just in my head." He nodded to himself and then looked to her. "You are a figment of my imagination… You have to be," he let out a sigh of relief and just as she went to speak interrupted by saying. "I mean if you really remember me saying that it means you should have known how I felt about you. I mean I said I loved you when I was most vulnerable and I meant it, but you still chose Potter because I was too afraid to tell you how I felt without the help of some stupid potion and I pushed you away. I should have just shown you how I felt, I should have done this."

In one swift motion, Severus pulled her into a searing kiss that took her by surprise, Severus loved her. She was in shock he had loved her that long and she never knew. She had a crush on him in her younger years, but never imagined he had such strong feelings for her but she was with James. Trying to ignore the feelings that arose from the kiss she pushed him off gently. His black eyes met hers softly, a small smile on his lips. Lily felt she was in some alternate universe she had to be.

"I'm married Severus…" She watched as his face crumbled, the happiness from before replaced with an expression of hurt, then nothing as he put up a mask hiding his emotions from her as he crossed the room quickly.

"I should go to bed," he transfigured the love seat into a bed and opened the door she had seen earlier disappearing into the room.

She sighed as she sank onto the bed it was late but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep not with all this confusion. She knew that Voldemort was in her house and she had to save her son but what Severus said was conflicting, if she was dead then did that means James and Harry were too? Her heart raced. She got up going to the last door in the room when she saw something that caught her eye. She gently picked up the Daily Prophet. It said that today was October 31st, 1984, but that wasn't the most shocking. What shocked her was the headline.

oOo

3 years ago today: A Baby Vanquished the Dark Lord

By: Rita Skeeter

 _Harry James Potter, The boy who lived, the whole wizarding world remembers the day the boy survived the killing curse. Harry, one year old at the time, was in his fidelius charmed home when Sirius Black ratted out the location of the Potter home to the Dark Lord himself. Black was a close friend to the Potter's and was sent to Azkaban after he unfortunately murdered a street full of muggles and his childhood friend Peter Pettigrew._

It wasn't Sirius! Lily fumed, she understood why they would assume that but it was Peter that was their secret keeper. He is lucky he is dead because if he wasn't she would kill him herself! She took a breath and resumed her reading:

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, once he knew the location, invaded the home breaking in and killing James Potter as he tried to protect his wife and son.

Lily sucked in a breath, she now had her answer to whether James was alive or not. She stifled a sob as she cried for her husband the goofball. She would never be able to hear his playful banter. She would never kiss his lips again, never feel his arms comfort her. Tears rolled down her cheeks freely. Her son would never have his father. Her heart broke, but she had to know more about what happened that night.

 _After that, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named made his way up to the nursery where Lily Potter resided with her son, wishing to escape with him, but not getting to the room quickly enough, she too was also struck down. He then turned to the young boy and attempted to kill him but the boy survived and the Dark Lord was never seen again…_

At least her son was alive. She would find him but it wasn't smart to go alone, especially considering that she was supposed to be dead. She would ask for Severus to help her or point her in the right direction in the morning. She slumped over to the bed that and curled into a ball thinking about how crazy things had been. Her husband was dead. James was dead, the toerag had to leave her. She clutched the pillow to her aching chest and cried until no more tears came and she fell asleep.

His head was throbbing as he woke his body ached. He shouldn't drink. He knew he shouldn't, but it was the only day he allowed himself more than one glass of wine. He got up stretching slowly and making his way to the bathroom, chugging a quick Sober Up potion. He then stepped in the shower, hoping the warm water would give his aching muscles the relief they needed. Thank Merlin Dumbledore was to cover his classes, he didn't want to deal with children not today. He washed his hair, despite what everyone thought, he did wash his hair, it just was naturally greasy and he didn't understand why. Maybe it was because he never really could manage to clean off all the conditioner?

Once he was out of the shower he changed and called for Brownie the house elf that attended to him. The creature appeared with a pop and he told him to get him some breakfast and set it on the table in the living room. He was almost done dressing when he heard a loud crash outside his room.

"Brownie! Can you not complete a simpl-"Severus froze after he swung open the door separating him and the Living area. Standing over a broken glass was not the house elf, it was Lily Potter. Last night was not a dream he had, it was truth, Lily Potter was alive for real. His mind raced, the journal it worked… Strangely but it worked.

"Sorry I didn't mean to break the cup, it just slipped." He snapped back to the present and helped clean up the mess.

"It is fine, I apologize for whatever I did last night. I don't really remember everything that happened just bits and pieces, I don't usually drink." Lily nodded silently so he didn't recall his declaration of love…. Was that a good thing?

"Sev, I want to see Harry." She decided to just get to the point. Severus was surprised by that.

"I should probably bring you to Dumbledore he could bring you to see him." She shook her head.

"Sev I want to see him now not later, Dumbledore would put me through so much…Please Severus…Please" Her eyes watered, bottom lip trembling. He couldn't tell her no but he couldn't risk putting her in danger or the boy. He let out a sigh.

"I don't want to risk any of you, but I could possibly get you a picture of him if Petunia lets me and then we go to Dumbledore and you stay here." She didn't want that she wanted to see Harry now, but knew that this was the best he could do. Was she going to stay? No she didn't plan to, but now she knew where Harry was.

"Fine Severus." He looked to her softly.

"Alright then, I will be back with the Photo." He walked to Hogsmeade and Lily did a quick spell to make herself presentable and then disillusioned herself and followed him out of Hogwarts, mentally taking a note to question him as to why he lived in Hogwarts.

Not thinking on it too long as she focused on keeping him in view, his legs being way longer than her own. When Severus apparated away, she knew he was headed to Tuney's house. She hoped that her sister still lived on Privet Drive as she too apparated. Satisfied when she saw Severus in what looked like a muggle suit with a large cloak covering him up from the cold. She followed him slowly and stopped a bit behind him as he knocked on the door. He waited silently as the large brute she knew as Vernon Dursley answered the door.

"Who are you?" his pudgy face scrutinized Severus, but the man, although larger, was not as tall as Severus. Severus looked bored.

"I am here to check on the boy… Albus Dumbledore sent me he requires a photograph of the child."

Vernon looked at him disgusted. "So you are a freak, we don't want any of you here. You are not welcome." as he went to close the door, Severus caught it and said in a low tone.

"That was not a request, muggle, I just want to see the boy and that is all. If you do not allow me in only more will come."

Vernon turned an ugly shade of red but let the Wizard in, calling Petunia and as his back was turned Lily slipped into the home. Vernon locked the door as her sister turned the corner holding a chubby boy that was not Harry, it had to be her son Dudley. He looked like his father and was screaming at the top of his little lungs to be put down.

Petunia's eyes widened as she saw Severus, and she told the boy to go play with his toys, that he would have his bath later. The boy squealed like a pig and ran up the stairs.

"What are you doing here Freaky boy." Severus ignored her comment and as he went to speak, Vernon interrupted,

"He wants to see the boy, apparently he is sent by Dumbledore."

Petunia paled a bit, calling Harry. That's when the skinny boy turned the corner and bumped into the wall and onto his bum. He got up quickly apologizing.

"You called me auntie?" Petunia grimaced and pushed the boy towards Severus who steadied him. Harry squinted up at him a bit intimidated.

"You have five minutes." Severus looked to the boy that was clearly underfed and by the way he was squinting at Severus, could hardly see.

"Are you aware that the boy needs glasses?"

Vernon scoffed, "The boy is merely clumsy." Severus grit his teeth.

"The boy is only like that because he cannot see." Vernon turned that same red color as earlier.

"We took him in as you people wished, but we don't have to pay for every little frivolity he desires."

Lily's blood boiled, wanting to hurt the man badly and her sister. She obviously had money, but still Harry wore old clothes that didn't fit him properly while their son was dressed to the nines and still managed to get it dirty. Just as she was about to blow her cover to scream at her idiotic sister, Sev said.

"You took responsibility for a child. You should know that being able to see is not a frivolity as you so coldly put it, he needs a good meal, better clothing, and glasses. He needs family unlike you filthy muggles, he is better off anywhere but here. Harry, pack your things you are coming with me." The boy was reluctant but did as he was told. When Severus saw him head to the cupboard, he turned to the couple. His voice was dangerously low, Lily had never seen the Slytherin that upset. "Is that boy sleeping in the cupboard?"

The pair looking pale and nervous as they realized he was angry. Vernon went to answer as Severus did something rash, he hit the large muggle across his large jaw. He felt the crunch of the bones in his fingers from how hard he hit him, and the muggle crumbled to the floor. Harry came out with a small grocery bag of items and Severus took the boy in his arms telling him to close his eyes as he apparated away. Lily was in shock and did the same, following Severus back to the castle. She needed to be there when he got in but knew she couldn't get there first. When she managed to catch up, she snuck back into his quarters quickly locking herself in the bathroom.

Severus tried to calm down, the little boy watched him with wide green eyes. Severus called Brownie to bring the boy food. The boy only watched him, and Severus felt uncomfortable and placed the boy in a chair and when the food appeared the boy was surprised.

"Is this all for me sir?" Severus nodded silently and said softly.

"Yes, eat, I will be back."

He went to find Lily, running into her as she came out of the bathroom. She threw herself at him, hugging him tightly.

"Severus, that was the most amazing thing! I know I shouldn't have followed you, but….but well I guess I meant to say Thank you." She went on her tippy toes and kissed the surprised man, quickly pulling away. "I forgive you Severus." She said before bounding into the kitchen, leaving the stunned man alone with his thoughts.

His mind raced as a smile crept up on his face. It was the least he could do. She didn't know it yet but she had saved him, saved him from himself.

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 _Please review_


	9. Chapter 9: Necromantiae

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count :** 4,678

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

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 **Story Title :** Necromantiae

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Mystery

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** None

 **Summary :** Alexander is an up and coming Auror personally mentored by Harry Potter himself, due to his exceptional talent and skill. Having grown bored with the lack of field work, Alex soon gets his wish for excitement when assigned By Harry to investigate the recent sightings of Inferi near Hogsmead, after Harry gets word of the death of a villager at the hands of one of the creatures. Alex's investigation however quickly becomes more mysterious than a simple rise in dark magic as he uncovers a secret chamber within the Chamber of Secrets and a plot made by someone only calling himself Shadowalker, who seems to have discovered a method for making himself immortal. Does Alexander have what it takes to find Shadowalker before Shadowalker can destroy what Alexander loves the most?

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 **Necromantiae**

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The chair felt incredibly uncomfortable, and not for the first time, Alexander wished there was a spell that could help with that. Thousands of years of magic and they couldn't come up with chairs any better than the Muggles. The paper work on his desk was becoming increasingly more mentally taxing and he longed for field work. He knew he was the best Auror in the department, and that the only reason Harry was the head was simply because he had defeated Voldemort 20 years ago. **  
**Alexander sighed and stood. "Your Slytherin is showing." He told himself suppressing a smile as he stretched his sore limbs. His eyes glanced over the picture that sat on his desk, one of himself, his now wife, and his late best friend, taken at their Graduation ceremony from Hogwarts. Thinking about those times always brought up a slight twinge of pain. He missed his friend dearly.

His reminiscing was interrupted as a text message lit up the screen of his phone. Muggle technology wasn't without its uses after all. He looked and saw it was from H. Potter. Curiously he opened it, Harry only messaged him directly if it was important. "Alex, please come to my office immediately." Curiosity was replaced by excitement, it had been ages since he was in the field, maybe Harry had an assignment for him! Grabbing his coat, Alex left with haste.

It didn't take him long to reach Harry's office, as they were on the same floor. Knocking a bit more forcefully than intended, he heard the response to enter from the other side. Alex took a deep breath and opened the door. There behind the desk sat one of the most famous wizards of all time, his black hair a mess and his glasses sat a bit askew, as if he had just rubbed his face. Harry looked up, his green eyes piercing. "Alexander, please come in, have a seat!" Alex was always adept at reading people, but it didn't take much to see that Harry had a lot on his mind. Moving briskly, Alex sat down as Harry shuffled some papers on his desk away.

"Is everything alright sir? You seem…tense." Alexander asked him with as much sympathy as he could muster, it was his strong suit. Harry sighed. "No I'm afraid not. Let me cut straight to the chase." Harry slid a small stack of papers across the desk to Alex, who looked between them and Harry before picking them up and looking it over. The word 'Inferi' immediately jumped out on the page.

"Over the past few months, we have been receiving reports of Inferi sightings around Hogsmeade. They were seemingly random at first, but in the past fortnight, sighting have increased drastically." Harry seemed visibly uncomfortable, almost as if the subject of the Inferi was not a favorite of his. Harry took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb before replacing his glasses and continuing. "Just a few moments ago, I got an Owl from Professor McGonagall, it appears as if a resident was attacked last night. They found him dead this morning." The air was suddenly heavy, Harry's words had such a sound of finality to them. "I want you, to go investigate this on my behalf." Alexander tried and failed to hide a smile. "when do I leave?" Harry stood. "You leave immediately. Minerva has already been made aware that you are coming. We have a Floo Channel set up that will take you straight to her office."

Traveling by way of Floo wasn't one of Alex's preferred methods, he was incredibly precise with his apparating. He once heard a story from Ron Weasley about how the first time Harry had traveled by floo he ended up in Knockturn Alley, while it was a funny story, it made him nervous as to where he might pop up. Removing the hesitation from himself, he stepped into the fireplace and stepped out into the office of the Headmistress. "I have been expecting you." He was greeted by a sharp voice, with a slight undertone of sass.

Alex smiled and dipped his head slightly, "Headmistress, it has been some time. Pleasure to see you again." This was only slightly true, as the last time he had seen her was at the funeral of his best friend Malum. "Indeed. Well, have a seat, we have something to discuss after all." Alex moved to the chair opposite her, he always respected and liked Minerva, he take no excuse mentality and sassy demeanor always made him laugh. He knew she was a Gryffindor and was once the Head of House, but he always thought she had Slytherin aspects as well, if not perhaps Ravenclaw.

For a few seconds that seemed like eternity, McGonagall looked at him with wise eyes, studying him, but Alex knew better than to break the silence. Finally she spoke again. "When Potter said he was sending you, I have to admit I was a bit hesitant. You remind me, in some ways, of Severus, brilliant, but a tendency to do what you please, even knowing the potential consequences. Though I haven't seen someone with your natural talent since perhaps Albus himself." Alex was a bit taken aback, she just compared him with one of the most powerful wizards perhaps ever. "With all due respect, and trust me I have a tremendous amount for you, I am not here for a discussion of my abilities."

The corner of Minerva's mouth twitched up so quickly that Alex wasn't sure he had seen it at all. "It is as you say. I trust Mr. Potter has informed you of what has been transpiring lately?" Alex moved his hand in a gesture as if to say 'not much'. "He briefed me that there has been a growing number of Inferi sightings and that a resident has been killed. Outside of that, I am in the dark." She sighed. "As are the rest of us. That is unfortunately the extent of anyone's knowledge." Alexander shifted in his seat, growing a bit exacerbated with the situation, hard to investigate without knowledge. "Can you perhaps tell me where in Hogsmeade the resident was attacked. Looking at him from over her spectacles she said. "He was found just outside the shrieking shack"

Of course it was the bloody shrieking shack, where else would it be? Alexander walked briskly through the grounds of Hogwarts towards the village. It was nostalgic being back here, he had graduated nearly 8 years previous. Immediately went to work at the ministry as an Auror after having perfect scores on his NEWTs. It was there that Harry had taken a shine to him, noting his capability with the strength of his spells as well as his penchant for voiceless and some wandless magic. It was generally excepted that Alex was next in line for the head of the Auror office. Though since the war, not much excitement was to be had for an Auror. Yet despite all of his talent, he couldn't stop his best friend, Malum from dying at the hands of a werewolf attack. It had been Alexanders wife, Theresa who had treated him and St. Mungo's, who blamed herself as much as Alex blamed himself.  
His thoughts were interrupted as he came closer to the shack. He shuddered, this was where he had found Malum, lying in his own blood. "Enough, you have a job to do." He quickly found the spot in which the man had been attacked. The area had been taped off, as they wouldn't clean it until investigation had concluded. The ground was still soaked with blood and other gore, but with no visible signs of struggle around the area, it was evident that the man was surprised. Tracks of bare feet seemed to lead up directly the shack, much to his dismay. Without any other choice, Alex walked through the gate, and slowly up to the door. There he paused for a moment and withdrew his wand. The sun was beginning to set, and visibility was becoming low. "lumos." He said softly as he opened the door with his other hand.

Inside was as he expected, dark, dusty and as creepy as all get out, but he didn't at first glance, see anything out of the ordinary. "Nothing to worry about, just a haunted house, right?" He sighed and began his sweep of the shack, room by room, the light of his wand casting shadows that played tricks on his eyes, making him startle more than a few times.  
Finding nothing on the bottom floor, he made his way to the staircase, but paused when he heard the creak of the floor just above him. Painfully slow, he went up the stairs. "Become an Auror they said, it will be fun the said." Now on the top floor, Alex could see a light shining dimly from a room to his left, the door open just slightly. He extinguished his wand with a whisper of. "Nox." And waited a moment for his eyes to adjust, before creeping his way to the door.  
Leading with his wand out, he gently pushed the door open, hoping it wouldn't make a noise. He took the room in at a glance, it seemed to be a study of sorts, and at the desk stood a man, his back to him, the man was holding a few pieces of parchment as was looking back and forth at them as if studying them. "Stay where you are! Aurors office!" He announced himself loudly. The man jumped exaggeratedly and threw the papers into the air. He spun around with a cry of "Don't shoot!" Alex saw his face and was shocked at who he saw.  
"Professor Longbottom?! What in the name of Merlin are you doing here? I damn near stunned you!" Neville with his hands still in the air, shrugged. "I come here every now and again for some time to think." Alexander sighed and lowered his wand. He had heard how brave Neville was during the war, killing Voldemort's snake and leading the DA while the trio had been away. "You scared the daylights out of me Professor." Neville's eyes got wide and he suddenly put his hands down as if he just realized they were up. "I scared you?! I think I might need a change of knickers now thanks to you!"

Alex rolled his eyes and asked. "what were you looking at, those parchments I mean?" He looked confused for a moment, as if he forgot, before his face went up as if he remembered. "Right, well, I don't really know. I can't make any sense of them." He swooped down and picked them up. "perhaps you can?" Neville held them out for Alex, he stashed his wand and crossed the distance between them. Just as Neville said, what was on the parchment seemed like gibberish. "there's more, just there." Neville pointed to a small table, where indeed a few more pieces sat. Alex walked over and picked them up, just to be greeted with the same gibberish, however, one had a sentence that stated. 'The Chamber of the Snake." He turned back to Neville and asked. "What do you make of that?" pointing directly to the sentence. After a moment of thought he replied. "I reckon that is the Chamber of Secrets. Does that mean…is this written in Parsletongue?" Alexander didn't reply, though he knew it had to be true. "Seems like I need to get into the chamber."

Alex called Harry on his way back to the school for a full report. Harry had expressed his disgust for the chamber as his wife had almost died there when they were young. He also informed him that only a parslemouth can get in, however Ron had once got in by imitation of the words. He then told Alex the exact words and how to say them to allow him to enter. Before heading to the bathroom that he would need, he also informed McGonagall of what was happening, who gave him her blessing to do what he must to solve the issue.

Now standing in front of the sink, he said exactly what Harry has told him, his tongue feeling weird as it formed that man S sounds. For a tense moment, nothing happened, then the sink pulled back to reveal the whole in the floor. "I have a feeling I will regret this." Alex thought before plunging.

He arrived in a chamber full of the skeletons of animals, something he was expecting thanks to Harrys instructions. He took out his wand and ignited it before making his way to where Harry had said would be the main chamber. Sure enough, he found it and was a bit shocked when he saw the remains of the basilisk, the thing must have been massive, how had Harry survived that thing? Also dominating the room was the stone statue of Slytherin's head. He was convinced there was something more here, but without any real direction, he was walking aimlessly, studying portions of the walls and floors before arriving at the statue. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about it, just a regular giant stone face. Feeling discouraged he turned away when a thought occurred to him. The mouth of the statue was wide open, and if from what he heard was true, that was where the great serpent had come from when summoned by Riddle.  
"This is a dumb idea, worthy of a Gryffindor." With an immense amount of hesitation, he entered the mouth, not even having to duck as it was so enormous. He stepped carefully, allowing the light from his wand to guide him as he stepped into another chamber, albeit not nearly as large as the previous one.

For a few painstaking seconds, nothing happened. Then as if someone had flipped a light switch, the room was flooded with light. It was blinding, causing him to shield his eyes and blink away the circles that dotted his vision. What he saw was eerily similar to the study at the shrieking shack. There was a table with papers strewn on its surface, to his left was beakers, reminiscent of a potions lab. To his right was a mechanism of sorts that had the skeletal remains of a human locked down by ankle and wrist restraints. Fighting the urge to turn and run straight the hell back to the ministry, Alex crossed the room to the table, extinguishing his wand along the way.

The parchment this time was written in English, much to his surprise. Some were very old indeed, signed by Slytherin himself, some seemed to have been written by Tom Riddle, but they seemed to be over the same subject. Necromancy. There were numerous pages detailing inferi, and some pages that seemed to be diary entries or at least the thoughts on the subject. Alex sat on the chair there and began to read.

Alex wasn't aware of how much time had passed, as the more he read the more he became engrossed in what was a shocking discovery. According to what he was reading, Slytherin had a theory that, through necromancy, one could find eternal life without the use of the Philosopher's Stone. Though he was unable to complete his research. Centuries later, when Riddle found the chamber, he continued the research, and even wrote a method in which one might accomplish it. But could never get it to work in practical application, which explained the remains on the table. And then at the end, there was only one entry, written by someone calling themselves 'Shadowalker', it simply said. "I have done it." And that was it, no mention of why there were inferi, no indication of who this mystery person was. Feeling a bit defeated, Alexander stood, and left the chamber.

As he exited that chamber, he was surprised to see McGonagall waiting for him. "Thank Merlin!" "Headmistress! You won't believe what I found down there!" She waved her hand dismissively at him. "No time for that now! The ministry is calling all hands! St. Mungo's is under attack!"

Without delay Alex and Minerva made their way outside of the protection of Hogwarts, and then promptly disapparated. Appearing in front of St. Mungo's, Alex wasted no time running in. Normally he would leave recklessness to the Gryffindors, but his wife, Theresa worked at the hospital. The moment he stepped through the gate, he was greeted with battle. Witches and Wizards were fighting off a horde of Inferi.

He wanted to stand there and fight, but he knew he had to get to Theresa first, just to make sure she was ok. Alex ran past the chaos, seeing his friends amongst those fighting, even Harry himself, but not the one he wanted to see. She must be inside! He was about 20 feet from the door when he moved his wand, blowing the door back off its hinges. St Mungo's, much like a muggle hospital, was sizable, but fortunately he knew exactly where she worked. It seemed like none of the Inferi had made it inside, though that would soon change without the door.

It didn't take him long to reach the floor she worked on. "Tessie!" he called her by her nickname from school. No reply greeted him. Wasting no time, he searched room by room, only stopping briefly when he heard the sound of battle getting closer, they were bringing the fight inside, perhaps trying to funnel them. Alex reached the last door of the hall, and blew it open. Huddled together were a handful of kids, and standing above them, as if a momma bear protection her young, was Theresa. Her face lit up when she saw him and was across the room so fast that Alex wasn't sure if she apparated to him or ran. They embraced, her tears wetting his shoulder. "Thank God you are here! What is happening out there?!" Alex stepped back but kept is hands on her shoulders. "We are under attack by the inferi. I can explain later, but right now we need to get out of here…stay with the kids, and stay behind me. Slowly the children stood, and he could tell the poor souls were scared beyond words, but they all seemed more than willing to leave with haste. "Monster!" one child cried, pointing behind behind Alex.

Alex spun, his wand raising, there stood a single inferi, clearly having separated from the group. Alex moved his wand in a slashing motion and called. "Sectumsempra!" causing the head of the creature to remove from its body and fall to the floor in a heap. Alex held his breath for a few moments more, before poking his head out to make sure the coast was clear. "Ok that was the only one, come quickly."

As a group, they half walked and half ran out of the room and back down the hall, but as the approached the stairs, a small horde of about 10 inferi came up. The kids screamed as everyone came to a halt. "Stand back!" Alex waved his wand and a wall of bright red flame came up between them, blocking them off. One of the creatures walked forward and was lit ablaze, falling dead nearly immediately. With methodical precision, Alex shot spells, and one after another the creatures fell defeated.

Alex dropped the flame wall but was shocked that he heard nothing. No spells, no talking, spells, no sounds whatsoever. He turned around and whipped his wand up. The group of children all lay on the floor in front of a man, dressed in a full body black cloak, his face completely hidden under the hood. This man was holding an unconscious Theresa over his shoulder, the tip of a wand could just be seen poking out from the sleeve of his right hand. The man said nothing, but just looking at him, Alex could feel his breath catch in his throat, and a bubble form in his chest. The feeling this man produced was very close to how he felt anytime he was near a dementor, and for a frightening moment he thought that it was. Until he spoke.

"You know me." It wasn't a question, but Alex responded. "Shadowalker." The man made no acknowledgment to this but spoke again. "If you want your beloved, you will find her at the shrieking shack. Come alone." The man's voice was hypnotic, and unsettling in its calmness. Before Alex could respond, the man disappeared with a silent puff of smoke, that lingered for a few seconds after he was gone.

Alexander stood outside of the shack. Against his better judgment, he came alone, without telling anyone of his plan. But he had a feeling, this was something he needed to do alone, and he had learned long ago to trust his instincts. He knew this was foolhardy and that he was walking into a trap, but he pushed the door open and raised his wand.

There standing in the center was the man, simply waiting, unmoving as a sculpture. "You came." He said shortly, Alex ignored this and asked instead. "Where is she?!" the man said nothing, but raised his wand with a quick movement of his arm, and a red spell flew from it. Reacting quickly Alex brought up a protection spell, and blocked a second spell, and a third. The man in black was firing spell after spell, keeping Alex on the defensive. But it was curious that none of the spells were green, so he wasn't trying to kill him outright.

Holding out his left hand while continuing his protection charm, he telekinetically throw some loose debris at Shadowalker, it didn't harm him, but it was enough to distract him and break the chain of spells. Alex rolled forward and fired a knockback jinx that connected with the mystery man's chest, who flew back, slamming hard against the wall. Before he could recover, Alex rushed him, pointing his wand directly at his face. "If you move, I will make you beg for the ministry to come here and rescue you from me."

The man got the point, or was perhaps unconscious. Either way, Alex slowly reached done and grasped the mans hood, pulling it back, and instantly wish he hadn't. His breath caught, and his wand lowered almost without him realizing he was doing it. "No, that's impossible." The man stood, and fully removed his hood. "Alexander, my old friend." Standing there, was Malum, his face covered in scars, but still mistakenly him. "But, you are dead, I saw you die!" Malum only laughed in response.

"Oh you are very right, you did indeed. But I know you saw my notes here, and what's in the chamber." Realization dawned on Alex, the words "I have done it. You made yourself immortal?" Malum opened his arms in a sweeping gesture. "In a manner of speaking. I researched it for years, and thought I had discovered what was missing. But it didn't work exactly as I had expected. You read the notes, not once did it say you would be what I am, somewhere between life and death, unable to step into sunlight." "So that's why you feel like a dementor." It wasn't a question, more of a realization. "Do I? First time I've let someone live long enough to describe me." Alex was in shock, his best friend for 10 years, who had died practically in his arms, was standing here as some undead creature. "Ok I get it, you followed their research and thought you found the missing link, but you had some mishap and instead you died and become a sentient Inferi. What I don't undertand, is why?"

At this, Malum laughed, more of a wheeze than anything. "How could you understand?! Mr. Perfect, who everyone loved, who was great at everything he did, who turned whatever he touched into gold! You, who took Theresa! She could have loved ME!" Alex could feel his anger rising, the shadows around him were beginning to dance in an unnatural way. "You have no idea how I was bullied, how everyone hated me, your little tagalong, your bloody shadow! I hated it, and I hated you! Avada Kedavra!" Alex was left with barely enough time to throw himself to the side, narrowly dodging the killing curse. He landed and rolled firing a stunning spell at him, but despite it hitting his former friend, it didn't seem to do anything. And it really sank in. this wasn't his friend, this wasn't Malum, this was an undead creature, tainted by hate and vengeance. One of them was going to have to die before this was over.

Alexander rolled as another killing curse hit the ground where he had been. Jumping to his feet, Alex cried out. "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" the spell hit its mark, blowing off Malum's right arm, along with his wand and a sizable portion of the wall behind him. With another wave of his wand, Alex conjured a rope that wound its way up Malums body and tightened. And with that Malum fell, unable to move covered from ankle to mouth in rope, though he posed little threat without his arm and wand. Satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere, Alex rushed upstairs to search for his wife. She was unconscious on a bed in one of the rooms, but her pulse was steady and her breath normal. With a sigh of relief he sent a patronus to Harry.

Over the next few hours, Alex was tasked with destroying all evidence of the Necromancy spell that created this monster. And personally set the blaze that would cremate is former friend, ensuring it truly was over. He had once asked Harry, when he was brave enough, why he hadn't held onto the Resurrection stone. Harry had only replied. "This is a world for the living, sometimes its painful. But the dead should stay where they are. Do not pity the dead Alex. Pity the living and above all, those who are without love." Alex now fully understood what he meant.

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 _Please review_


	10. Chapter 10: Polyjuice Mishap

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count:** 4,470

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

* * *

 **Story Title :** Polyjuice Mishap

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Comedy

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Draco/Hermione. Harry/Pansy

 **Summary :** What happens when your potions project has an explosive mishap? Lots of confusion and frustration...that's what.

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 **Polyjuice Mishap**

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Draco heaved a sigh in relief.

Not only was it the last class before the weekend commenced, but it was his favorite class as well. Potions.

Even if the enjoyment of the subject took a bit of a hit once Professor Slughorn took over, the fact that he could brew circles around his know-it-all girlfriend thrilled him. Well, maybe not circles, but half circles at the very least. Maybe quarter circles…

He had long since accepted that he would be second to her in everything else, but potions was his domain, where he had been the brightest star ever since he'd come to Hogwarts.

But this year, he's been gobsmacked when Slughorn had the stroke of "brilliance" to pair him with Harry Potter, the erstwhile "Boy Who Lived". Despite the fact that their previous hostilities had long since passed, he did still enjoy an occasional swipe at the showy Gryffindor, which tended to result in some truly explosive situations.

Today, for example, they were finally ready to finish their current long term project and Draco couldn't wait. This had been the longest few months he'd ever experienced.

Each pair had been given an advanced potion and were then given two months research, experiment and ultimately improve on their assigned potion. After overhearing a conversation between Potter and his own girlfriend about their misadventures in second year, Slughorn decided to "magnanimously" gift them the assignment to improve on the Polyjuice Potion. Nevermind that it was one of the most complex and finicky potions out there AND the fact that Potter hadn't helped in the making of it all those years ago.

Despite some rough patches, which included hours of toiling through the dustiest books in the furthest corners of the library and an unacceptable amount of begging Mia for the use of her brain, they were at the finish line. Just a few more hours and Draco would be free!

Poised around their cauldron, the pair sighed in exhaustion as they put the finishing touches on their potion. It had been simmering for almost an hour and in a few minutes it would be time for the final steps. Once they added the lacewing flies, it needed to be stirred for ten minutes, alternating counts of clockwise and counterclockwise motions. Then they could finally bottle a sample and be done with this Merlin-forsaken project.

Their last and probably most important discovery was the newest way to prepare the lacewing flies. Draco had been so proud to discover that the timing of slicing the annoying insect was crucial to the efficacy of the potion, extending the transformative properties. He would never admit that he'd only come to that conclusion after an asinine observation from Potter about an article in Playwizard detailing the properties of a new product used to enhance a wizards sexual performance. As if he would ever need to even glance at an article like that!

Looking around the room, he noticed that most of the other pairs were finished and relaxing-read: goofing off, in the case of Weaslebee-after completing their assignment. He looked to his Mia and had to bite back the laughter threatening to break loose. Her wild curls had once again escaped the tight bun she used to attempt to counteract the ever present humidity in the potions lab. She looked fiercely determined to keep it in place and he knew it was more of a safety issue than one of one thing, she wasn't vain in any sense of the word.

For another, hair falling into any kind of potion could be disastrous. Explosions would be the last of their worries if any of the ingredients reacted badly with stray bits of hair. He'd more than once warned Potter of the consequences of messing up their work, elucidating the consequences he'd bestow on him if he let any of that disaster of a mop he called hair affect their work. Draco rolled his eyes as Potter ran his hand through the mess once again.

"Potter, if you do not control that disaster on your head, I will hex you bald! We did not put in this much work to have you destroy it now. Plus, if something did go wrong, I would be very put out to be stuck as a scrawny bespectacled git!"

"Oi, mind your attitude, Ferret. My hair is lovely. Just ask Pansy."

Gagging theatrically, Draco smirked toward the table where his girlfriend and best friend were rolling their eyes, scarily in tandem. They might be getting too close for his comfort…

Considering the potential for all of their hard work to be ruined, and considering he'd just scolded his partner for the same basic thing, Draco realized that he should be paying more attention to the lacewings and his knife, instead of Hermione. It wasn't something easily done though. Lacewing flies were dull while his girlfriend...well, his girlfriend was just too perfect for her own good. Or his, at any rate.

He hummed distractedly as he contemplated the particularly unexpected turn his life had taken over the years since he'd come to Hogwarts. First, there was his relationship with his Mia. Had anyone told him back his second year that he would one day be madly in love with Hermione Granger, he would have would have hexed them before checking them into St. Mungo's, thinking he'd be more likely to ask Potter out than love a filthy Mudblood.

The second change that he hadn't seen coming was the seemingly impossible relationship that developed between Potter and Pansy. He honestly had no clue how that came to be and he never really cared to find out. He was content with the knowledge that with Pansy now focused on Potter, he could focus on Mia.

The girls, who had become surprisingly fast friends, had decided that they would make the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend into a double he was loathe to spend any more time with Potter, he really couldn't complain about spending time with Mia outside of school.

The one change that Draco had never seen coming was the relaxed rivalry between Gryffindors and Slytherins. Well, mostly, at least. Quidditch was still a dividing factor, though a much friendlier one than in previous years.

Even if bringing up the fact that Slytherin still held a substantial lead in the race for the House and Quidditch cups tended to rile Mia up, it also led to explosive arguments, which then tended to lead to explosive make ups. Unless he happened to mention Gryffindor's horrific loss to the Puffs-then Draco would be on the end of Mia's wand and an inventive hex or two. He tried to avoid that outcome if at all possible.

"Oi! Are you gonna finish this any time in the next century?"

Draco sneered at his partner as Harry raised an eyebrow his way. "Like you're doing so much, Potter?"

"I'll be stirring. We both know your cuts are much more precise than mine, which is something you went on about for over an hour the other day."

Draco cast a quick tempus charm to check the timing, thankful when he saw that he was nearly ready to add the flies.

A sharp crack followed by a booming percussive explosion sounded from the general direction of Seamus Finnegan's station, which caused Draco's hand to slip.

"FUUUUU…..dge flies!"

Harry's eyes turned his way as Draco shook out his hand, ignoring the pain coming from his right index finger. Not wanting to miss the small window for adding the lacewings into the cauldron, he scooped them up and dumped them gently into the roiling liquid.

"Come on, Potter! Get stirring!"

"Need a kiss for your boo boo, Ferret?"

Draco rolled his eyes and laughed boisterously as a balled up piece of parchment came sailing from the direction of his girlfriend's table, nailing Harry in the back of the head. "Concentrate on our potion, Potter! I'm sure Mia will give me all the attention I require after class."

A well timed wink and lowly uttered growl caused Hermione to burst out laughing as Harry mock gagged. "Mate, she's like my sister! You're bang out of order!"

The next few minutes passed uneventfully as Draco straightened their station after healing his finger. He watched with bated breath as Harry syphoned off a few bottles of their potion and labeled them for Slughorn.

"Let me take these up and then I'll help you straighten up. Sound alright?" Harry's voice infiltrated his thoughts and Draco nodded absently as he continued to package up the extra ingredients scattered around their station.

"Harry, wait up, mate!"

Draco stifled his groan as Weaslebee stumbled forward from the station he shared with Seamus, which still happened to be smoking. The undoubtedly subpar Popping Tonic they'd been working on seemed to gleam an odd shade of puce in the low light of the dungeon.

It was positively baffling to Draco how Weasley OR Finnegan had even made it to N.E.W.T. level potions. It would explain why it'd taken them the entire two months to brew a potion which normally only took two weeks, most of which was simply steeping the Boom Berries.

Despite the fact that he'd learned to tolerate Weaslebee, in small doses at least, he had never taken a shine to that cow he insisted on dating. His ears positively cried as she shrieked from the station next to them. He felt sympathy for Goyle, who despite his general ineptness in his academic life was actually passable at potions, being partnered with her.

"Oh! Won Won!"

Poor Goyle nearly choked on the chit's hair as she tossed it over her shoulder. Her spidery eyelashes fluttered in...Draco had no idea what effect she was honestly trying to produce...and her talon-like nails gripped his friend's shoulder, nearly shoving him off his seat in order to make room for her beau.

Unfortunately, her timing could not have been worse.

Goyle's body, already too large to be entirely graceful in any activity, lurched backward awkwardly as his arms pinwheeled to try to regain his balance. His left hand caught Potter's shoulder and Draco heard Hermione's sharp intake of breath as the small glass jars full of their perfectly brewed potion flew into the air.

He thanked Merlin and Nimue and Morgana as his seeker reflexes took over, his hands wrapping easily around the potion. He couldn't, however, catch Weaslebee's.

The soft squelch of a vial hitting their thick and gloppy potion met his ears a moment before the entire cauldron exploded.

Another percussive explosion shook the room, this time much bigger than the first. Draco blinked stupidly, his ears ringing and his brains slightly scrambled, and glanced down at himself.

He and Harry were covered from head to toe in the remnants of their altered Polyjuice Potion. Potter's look of horror mimicked his own, though that could've been the curdled potion coating the inside of his mouth. Thank Merlin they hadn't added any "bits of someone", which meant that they were safe. Annoyed, but safe.

Slughorn's stomach preceded him as he ambled over, his eyes widened in shock.

"Harry, m'boy! What in the world happened here?"

"A comedy of errors, sir."

Hermione's soft snort met his ears and Draco grinned at the puzzled look on their "illustrious" Professor's face. Obviously he hadn't embraced Muggle literature the same way he'd embraced their liquor, if the pervasive scent of scotch that surrounded him was anything to go by.

"Just an honest mistake, Professor. But perhaps I can surrender these to you," Draco held out the small, untainted vials of their potion, "and we can go get cleaned up."

"Of course, of course, m'boy." Slughorn laughed boisterously, his large midsection jiggling in an unappealing way. "Wouldn't want to frighten the younger students, now would we?"

Hermione and Pansy watched their boyfriends leave as they gathered their own belongings, both slightly exasperated by the last few moments.

"Honestly! It just had to be them."

Pansy snorted in amusement as she shook her head. "I expected it from Finnegan-"

"And he did deliver a fairly significant explosion."

"-or even Goyle, simply because the fumes from Brown's perfume could curdle any potion." Pansy paused, her hand on her hip as she waited for Hermione to pack the rest of her books that had somehow scattered over their table. "I could even imagine Harry blowing something up."

"Oh, Merlin, yes! Remember his Cure for Boils in first year?"

The girls hissed in unison as the memory flashed before their eyes.

"Yes, well...Draco is a genius at potions. As much as it pains me to admit. And if you ever tell him I said that, I will hex you."

Pansy giggled as she looped her arm through her friend's. "Your secret is safe with me, Granger."

"I just...can't believe what happened!"

"Seeing that ridiculous ginger sprawled across the floor-oh, don't give me that look, you know I can barely stand him!-was a sight I almost wish I could see every day. Though even backed by an irate Draco, confused Harry was absolutely adorable!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, though a smile still pulled at the corners of her lips. Pansy and Harry's relationship was a complex and confusing one to her, though somehow it worked for them.

The two friends paused in the hallway just outside the Potion's classroom to allow the slight ringing in their ears to dissipate before making their way to the Great Hall.

"Do you think we should wait for them?"

"No. I'm starving!" Hermione laughed outright at her friend's blunt statement.

She never would have guess a slim girl like Pansy could put away such an unreasonable amount of food. She half wanted to pit the Slytherin against Ron sometime, just to see which one could truly out-eat the other.

"Alright, you head on up. I need to stop by the library-"

"Say no more, Granger. I'll leave you to your books. I know you love them almost as much as Draco."

The duo parted ways as they reached the top of the stairs, Hermione still giggling as Pansy rolled her eyes good naturedly.

Meanwhile, Draco rushed through the dungeons, uncaring when bits of lumpy glop flew off his robes. He was anxious to find Mia and celebrate the end of that Merlin forsaken project. If he played his cards right, he may even be able to sneak in a quick snog before dinner. She really couldn't resist his puppy eyes.

He stripped quickly, trying to contain the mess as he wadded up the fabric to deposit in the hamper. That snog would be a forgotten dream if Hermione ever caught word that he was leaving his dirty clothes for the elves to pick up.

"Oi, Drake! What-"

"No time to talk! Need to catch Mia before dinner. Maybe I can spin this disaster to my advantage!"

Goyle chuckled as his friend pulled a clean shirt over his head while trying to jam his legs into a new pair of trousers. Neither action was entirely successful.

Chuckles turned into loud peals of laughter, strangely high pitched from a man as large as Goyle, as Draco hopped from the room, still attempting to arrange his clothing in an appropriate manner.

The stone squeaked under his shoes as he hurried through the halls, ignoring the younger students gawking at him and the slight blurring of the tapestries as rushed past.

"Oi! Move it, firsties!"

The positively miniscule students-honestly, had he EVER been that small?-jumped out of his way, their eyes widening in slight horror when he swayed dangerously and stumbled.

"Just been-studying...too...much. S'all...fiiiiiiine…"

His head pounded as he regained consciousness. Draco cracked his eyes, shrieking in an embarrassingly unmanly fashion as his eyes focused on a face that was entirely too close to his own.

"Are you alright, sir?"

Idiotic first years-always trying to suck up. Sir, indeed!

"I said I'm fine! I'm just a bit dizzy...and... blurry."Draco squinted in annoyance when his eyes refused to focus more than a foot away from him as he struggled to his feet. "Otherwise I'm grand. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere important to be."

With that, Draco rushed down the corridor, mashing his shoulders and knocking his shins into various annoyances littered about the hallways, knowing that if he hurried he could still catch Mia in the library.

He lurched through the doors of Madam Pince's domain, earning himself an angry glare from the cantankerous matron. Though he couldn't quite see clearly enough to find Mia amidst the shelves and various students milling about, he tottered toward the Arithmancy section where her favorite table was located.

Sure enough, she was hunched over a book. Or at least he assumed it was her since the entire Hogwarts population knew not to infringe on the fiery Gryffindor's territory. Shaking his head at the love of his life, he knew exactly what she'd rushed off to do. Despite not being due for a week, she'd been anxious to start on Professor Vector's assignment the moment it had been handed out that morning.

He crept up behind her, hoping to surprise her as his hands reached forward intent on grabbing that lucious arse of loved that it was exactly two handfuls, as if she was built with him in mind. His hands latched on and he grinned at the small squeak of protest she let out.

"Miss me, love?"

Startled at the sudden contact Hermione spun around, prepared to remind whoever it was- though she was fairly sure no one but Draco would dare to grab her in such a way-that this is the library! As such is a sacred place that is not to be defiled with perverted behavior, no matter how much he (or she, for that matter) might want to.

"Wha…" The words died in her throat and her brow furrowed in confusion because the wizard currently standing behind her with a death grip on her bum was decidedly not her boyfriend.

"Harry? What on ear-"

Before she could say a word or ask any questions, she found her lips quickly smothered by her best friend's while his hands and tongue positively ran amok on her stumbled backward, her hands pushing at the lightly muscled chest, and reacted the only way a rational human being would. She slapped him hard enough that his head snapped to the side.

"Oi! What was that for, Mia? You couldnt've just said you weren't in the mood for a snog. I'm going to have a mark there." He whined, rubbing his cheek as his lip jutted out in a pout..

Hermione sputtered for a moment as she tried to decide when exactly the world had gone bonkers."You know exactly what that was for, you great git! You have a girlfriend who would not be amused with your behavior right now! And you do know what will happen if you are caught trying to snog me, right? Draco would hex you quicker than you can say expelliarmus! And you can't call me Mia! Honestly Harry, only Draco calls me that! What in Merlin's name has gotten into you?!"

Draco squinted again, this time in concern, though he was still having a devil of a time focusing his eyes. Damn explosion!

"Mia, you're starting to scare me, love. Did you hit your head during the explosion earlier? You're behaving very oddly Maybe we should take you to see Madam Pomfrey." Draco cautiously stepped forward, smoothing his hand across her forehead, grateful when her beautiful face came into focus once again. "I mean, you're slapping me for a simple snog and telling me to look out for...myself. No self respecting wizard wants to hear their girlfriend call them some other bloke's name...even if it is their best friend."

Her brilliant mind pieced together the last few minutes and she gasped. She slowly gripped his hand and searched the emerald green eyes staring back at her. "Draco? Is that you?"

"Of course it's me, Mia. Why are you staring at me like I'm a stranger?"

Ignoring the voice in his head telling him that it's probably not the smartest idea to push his witch, he leaned in to continue his earlier assault on her mouth, hopeful that he could snog the confusion right out of her. Her small hand blocking his mouth, shocked him into stillness though.

She shook her head nervously and fought to understand exactly what was going on. "Not a stranger, no. But my best friend. I don't understand what's going on right now, but you're most certainly not my Draco, Or at least not entirely. I'm staring into green eyes and dark hair and a lightning bolt scar."

She shook her head in disbelief at the odd turn her day had taken. But she grabbed Harry...Draco...Harry's hand and began tugging him out of the library, intent on getting some answers. First, she needed to find Pansy, who would hopefully be in the Great Hall.

They arrived at the Great Hall amidst the mass of students making their way to dinner and Hermione craned her head for her best girl friend. She burst into what she was sure was inappropriate laughter when she cause sight of her.

Standing before her is Draco, though it's quite obviously not Draco as she's currently holding his hand. Faux-Draco seemed to be pleading with an obviously overwrought Pansy, begging her to calm down.

"Pans, baby, what's wrong? Did I do something to upset you? I can't think of what, but it wouldn't be the first time. I mean, girls are sometimes confusing."

"Not funny, you prat! You know what you did! You just kissed me! We aren't together and if Hermione saw you right now she would hex your bollocks off! And...I would help her!" Pansy's voice rose as she yelled, her normally unflappable image looking decidedly off kilter.

Harry stood there, absolutely flummoxed as his Pansy grew more and more upset. He didn't understand what he'd done and therefore didn't know how to fix whatever it given that she was yelling about how they weren't together anymore, he was very curious as to when that happened. "Sweetie, we can figure out whatever has you upset, I promise. But why on earth would Hermione care that I kissed my girlfriend?"

"I am not your girlfriend!" She interrupted. "And Hermione would have a lot to say, she's my friend and I won't let you do this to her! Oh good her and Harry are here, they will both have something to say about your recent behavior!"

Hermione walked up to the table with Draco in tow, chuckling a bit as she reached around to pluck the glasses off what looked like her boyfriend's face. She turned to her boyfriend, in the body of her best friend, and handed the eye wear over. "Here, put these on. It will make the dizziness and blurry bits go away."

Pansy glanced over, slightly worried about why Harry would be dizzy, but shook it off. There were much more pressing matters to attend to. Namely, Draco Malfoy seeming to think that they were in some kind of relationship. Maybe he'd hit his head in potions earlier.

"What's going on here?" Hermione asked the pair, hoping to calm Pansy down from the fit she'd worked herself into.

"He kissed me!"

"Well, I have to be honest. I didn't like it before, and I'm a little squicked out now." Hermione calmly replied, glancing over her shoulder to her boyfriend. He was nodding absently, apparently still in mild shock from seeing someone who looked exactly like him sitting next to Pansy.

She rolled her eyes as he smirked, and even though it looked different on Harry's face, it was entirely Draco. "What's wrong, Potter? Girl troubles?"

"Not now, Malfoy! This is between me and Pans." Harry barked as he turned to glare at his one time enemy.

He froze abruptly and gaped at the sight before him. There stood Hermione holding his hand...how was this possible?! Then it dawned on him. They had both been covered in Polyjuice Potion less than an hour ago. No wonder his girlfriend looked so horrified when he walked up and kissed her! He must look like the ferret.

Turning to Draco, Hermione shook her head once again. This was not a situation she could get used to. Nope, not even a little bit. "Remind me again, how long will your potion last?"

"Twenty four hours from ingestion. Why?"

"You're not going to like this, not even a little. But until this wears off we are all on a time out. No snogging, no groping and definitely nothing more. I can't even consider being intimate with you when you look like my best friend, who I consider a brother." A visible shudder raced through Hermione as she suppressed a gag at the thought. "And I can't stomach the idea of the two of them doing anything when he's wearing your face. So..."

"So, this is going to be the worst 24 hours of my life, then. I'm stuck as a specky git who can't snog his girlfriend…" He continued to mumble and groan as Hermione giggled beside him.

The final straw that pushed both her and Pansy over the edge into a full blown laughing fit was when Draco smacked Harry on the back of the head in a fit of pique.

"We just had to go and make it better! Let's make it last longer, I said Let's show old Sluggy that this is no big deal, I said. Now I'm stuck with glasses and messy hair and it's someone Mia won't even snog...so much for our weekend of being together!"

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 _Please review_


	11. Chapter 11: Feline Fools Day

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count:** 2,555

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

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 **Story Title :** Feline Fools Day

 **Rating :** K+

 **Genre :** Friendship, Humour, Slight Mystery

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** None

 **Summary :** Minerva McGonagall wakes up one morning to find all is not what she thought. But this is April Fools Day, she should have expected this.

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 **Feline Fools Day**

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The walls of Hogwarts castle had seen plenty of pranks over their many years as housing for teenage witches and wizards. They'd seen their fair share of stolen moments in broom closets too, which always ended up in house points lost and often, a detention. It was a very good job the walls couldn't talk, Filch thought, as he limped along the fourth-floor corridor looking for Mrs Norris. For years he had grown ever more frustrated with the ungrateful toerags who giggled and swaggered their way around the castle, proudly showing off magic any chance they could. His scowl softened slightly as he thought of his beloved Mrs Norris, who had wandered into his life around twenty years ago. He had opened the door to his office one day to see her curled up on his desk, looking incredibly pleased with herself. He remembered how he had scowled and tried to shoo her away for weeks, but she never left his side. She was getting on for a cat, he thought to himself sadly, but she never seemed to act any younger. His ever faithful companion, wandering the halls by his side. Back on the fourth-floor corridor, he turned a corner and cursed roughly under his breath. Still no sign of his damn cat.

The next morning, a sleepy tabby cat stretched out under a heavy blanket, squirming to avoid a ray of sunlight creeping through the windows. It was almost as though the sunlight was moving, deliberately trying to shine into the cat's eyes. With a hiss, the silver tabby swirled into the slender form of Minerva McGonagall, who stalked over to the windows and firmly pulled the gap in the curtains closed. Turning back to her bed she sighed in frustration at seeing the familiar sight of a large brown cat curled up on the pillow. "If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, you simply cannot spend your nights in here Mrs Norris!" She could have sworn the damn cat winked at her. Making to shove the unruly cat off the bed, Minerva's eyes caught the date on the calendar on the bedside. With a grim look of determination and a renewed haste, she waved her hand towards the closet, cast a cleansing spell over herself, dressed and shoved Mrs Norris off the bed in a matter of seconds. As she was pinning up the last few strands of hair, Albus' face appeared in the fireplace. "Minerva. I must speak with you at once. Come to my office," he barked rather sharply at her. Throwing him a look that would stop a fully grown seventh year in its tracks, she sighed and cautiously began to navigate the castle towards his office, shooing a disgruntled Mrs Norris out of her door. For today was April Fools day, and nobody was going to get the better of Minerva McGonagall.

Walking through the corridor to the main staircase, Minerva was forever grateful that the Weasley twins had graduated the year previously, luckily neither Ronald or Ginevra had inherited their ingenious methods of torturing adults. Her thoughts came to a jarring halt as her foot descended not onto solid cold marble, but into thin air. With a resigned sigh, she flicked a small levitation spell at her feet and floated on through to the staircase. ""Thomas, if you know what's good for you, you'll stop laughing and take those explosives someplace else where I can't give you detention for a month," she said crisply, Dean, who was on the brink of full-blown laughter at the sight of a floating Professor McGonagall, promptly snapped his jaw shut and ran off in the other direction, explosives in hand and a wicked grin on his face. Minerva made it to the great hall without incident, and after threatening to take everyone's house into minus figures if they so much as giggled in her direction, she made it safely to Dumbledores office. "Sugar Quill," she said to the stone gargoyle, who blinked at her, almost as in surprise, before turning to give passage. "You summoned me, Headmaster?" Minerva announced as she floated through the doorway. "You do not trust me, Minerva?" Dumbledore questioned, gesturing to her still floating feet. "Not a chance Albus. Not after last year when you shrunk me to the size of a garden gnome. I had to sit on the table to eat! Have you any idea how embarrassing that is?" she hissed at him, trying to keep the memories from coming back to haunt her further. Dumbledore chuckled, "ah yes, however, I do not intend to do anything this year. I feel like being an innocent bystander." Minerva knew immediately that something was afoot due to the bloody twinkle in his eye but decided to let it drop for the sake of her growling stomach. "What did you summon me here for Albus? I'm getting rather hungry, and not getting many answers," she said peering over the top of her glasses. "Why, nothing at all Minerva my dear, don't let me keep you from your breakfast, perhaps a sherbert for the trip down?" he said offering her the bowl of yellow sweets. "No thank you, and whatever you're planning Albus, it better not involve me or so help me you'll be washing green dye out of your beard for a month!" With that, Minerva turned and, well, floated out of Dumbledores office. "You know Minerva, you look quite adorable when you float off in a huff like that!" Albus called out after her with a chuckle.

Refreshing the levitation charm on her feet, Minerva floated back to the great hall on high alert for anyone causing mischief. She saw Argus crouching over Mrs Norris, who stopped her fusses and ran over to Minerva instead. Minerva held back a giggle as Mrs Norris went to rub her legs, missed due to the levitation charm, and instead fell sideways under Minerva's feet. Levitating the hissing cat to her chest, she scratched Mrs Norris behind the ears, before levitating her back to Argus. "Keep an eye out for any troublemakers today Argus. And please get one of us if it's a big mess to clean up, it's always quicker with magic," she smiled fondly at Argus and his armful of Mrs Norris before floating up to her seat. As she dropped softly into her chair, she heard a soft cough coming from her right. Turning she stifled a gasp as she saw Albus sitting in Severus's seat. "But I just saw you in your office!" She exclaimed whilst Albus drew his forehead into a frown. "No, you did not, that I can assure you. I summoned you in your rooms but heard nothing back," Albus replied with a deep intonation. Narrowing her eyes Minerva studied the face in front of her, and the posture. "You're not Albus, are you?" She questioned quietly. "Gold star for Minerva. Your deductive reasoning displays its brilliance once more," he sneered in contempt. With an exasperated look on her face, Minerva replied, "Okay Severus, would you care to be civil for a moment and tell me what you wanted?" "Minerva I called for you as it appears I was placed under some sort of transfiguration spell, and I cannot seem to remove it. Since you're the expert in this area, I require your assistance," With a sigh, Minerva began to enquire if he had tried the basic counter spells, and as he answered in the affirmative, the real Albus stood up and called for the staff and students attention.

"Good morning students! I trust you are having an enjoyable breakfast?" The gentle murmur of agreement mixed with not enough coffee passed through the student body as Dumbledore grinned with his signature twinkle. "Excellent! Now I must remind you that pranking of any nature will result in detention and missing the upcoming Hogsmeade trip. If you get caught that is," he finished with a wave of his hands as fresh cups of coffee drifted through the tables and onto the hands of the students. As he sat down to begin his breakfast, Minerva, who out of mild paranoia, had decided not to touch the food, instead turned to people watching. In her cat form, it was her favourite past time - it came in rather handy with catching students up to mischief too. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the Slytherin trio of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle sitting in a strange order, Goyle was sat in the middle and seemed to be flirting with...wait was that Millicent Bulstrode? Minerva shook her head quickly as if to refresh the vision in front of her and moved her gaze to the Ravenclaw table. There, in the middle of a group of students was Luna Lovegood, the center of attention. Almost convinced she was imagining things, Minerva quickly scanned the Gryffindor table after seeing a small commotion break out. It was Harry Potter and Lavender Brown kissing, only to be interrupted by Katie Bell and Seamus Finnegan who looked about to throw a goblet of pumpkin juice over the pair. With a quick flick of her wand, the foursome separated out and turned to look up at their head of house who was staring down at the table in displeasure. Minerva shook her head and rose to walk to her classroom. After a few steps, she paused and recast the levitation charm on her feet before floating up to Transfiguration.

The morning passed by with even more chaos than was usual for Minerva's first and sixth year Transfiguration classes. Half the students didn't show up, the few who did make it were covered in boils, glitter, what smelt like dragon dung, or had a particularly vivid shade of hair colour. As the morning drew on Minerva felt a blinding headache creep across her temples and returned to her room just before lunch to look for the headache potion cure. Rummaging through the cabinet by her bed she sighed as her fingers grasped thin air and wooden drawer backs. It was with great effort that she floated down the many staircases to the dungeons where she found a disgruntled Severus who looked mostly normal, except for a long white beard. "Severus, you do look rather distinguished with that facial hair," she said with a small smile. "I was hoping you might help me actually, I've run out of headache potions and the pranking of today has caused more headaches than I was prepared for," she said, softening as her eyes met his with a mutual look of exasperation with the students. "Minerva I have told you time and again I am not your personal apothecary. If you want my potions you must either pay for them or offer me a service in return, such as getting rid of this befouling beard!" he bit out, before turning on his heel and stalking to the potions stockroom. Once inside his fingers expertly skimmed the labels before coming to a sudden halt over an empty space near the end of the shelf. "Minerva, have you been inside my stockroom?" he asked, his voice raising. "Not at all Severus, why do you-" She was cut off as he vanished into his personal quarters. Following him with an air of annoyance, she watched him summon Dibbles, his house elf. "Dibbles, was anyone in here last night?" He asked before the elf had fully materialised. "I, I did not see anyone sirs, just a big puddle on the floors. It took all my rags to clean up sirs, I tried vanishing it but it wouldn't move..." Dibbles trailed off, wringing his hands as his ears dropped in fear of a beating, wide eyes turning to Minerva as Severus grabbed a handful of Floo powder and said firmly "The Kitchens!" Minerva sighed in frustration, dismissed Dibbles and followed suit.

As she arrived in the kitchens in a cloud of ash, the house elves all turned to look at her and Severus in a mixture of curiosity (over the long white beard Severus was standing on) and fear. "Dibbles! Where did you put the rags you used to clean up the potion last night?" Severus asked sharply as the house-elf in question popped into appearance. "O-over here sirs, by the sink, so that, that we could wash the potion out sirs." Dibbles expression grew even more frightened as Severus deftly fingered the rags, before sniffing them. His brow furrowed as he turned to the rest of the house elf staff. "And did anyone use these rags after Dibbles put them here?" The room fell silent except for a gentle hiccup by the fire. "It was me, sirs. I used them to clean out the coffee pots sirs," came the faint voice that Minerva recognised as Winky's. Sighing she turned to Severus. "Does this mean that the students all drank a watered down version of whatever that potion was?" she asked urgently. "And is there a counter cure?" Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and vanished the rags. "It was an appearance switching potion, a modified polyjuice potion. You add who you want to change into, or you drink from their cup. Because it went into everyone's coffee, it caused a mass switch of all the students," he said with a groan. "But why did you change into Albus?" Minerva questioned. "I had some coffee last night before I retired for the night, in a peculiar way it helps me to sleep. The cup I drank from belonged to Albus," Severus said, as his eyes watched the flowing beard shrink by the second. "It appears it is wearing off now, by the end of the day the students should be back to normal. Well, as normal as they were for dunderheads," he finished with a sneer.

Evening fell, and the students returned to their normal appearances. As Minerva morphed into her animagus form for a nightly patrol it dawned on her that she never actually got that headache potion. With a sigh, she padded out of the room and began her patrols, with an intent to disturb Severus for that potion. As she turned onto the second-floor corridor, she literally walked into Mrs Norris. Morphing back to her human form, she crouched down to scratch the cat behind the ears. Softly she crooned "It was you, wasn't it? I've seen you skulking down in the potions store, and I know you can jump that high. Did you deliberately cause all this chaos, hmm?" Minerva worked her fingers over the cat's soft fur until she found Mrs Norris's face. As she looked into the cat's eyes, she swore it winked and smiled before sauntering off. "That bloody cat, one day you'll get into a lot of trouble," Minerva muttered under her breath as she morphed back into cat form and walked away from Mrs Norris to catch any mischevious students.

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	12. Chapter 12: I Dreamed of You

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count:** 3,800

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

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 **Story Title :** I Dreamed of You

 **Rating :** K+

 **Genre :** Romance

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Fred Weasley / Hermione Granger

 **Summary :** Hermione is in love with Fred Weasley but she's pretty certain he has no idea she exists outside of being his little brother's best friend. She goes to unexpected source for help and things do not go as planned. In the end, Fred is the only one who can save her.

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 **I Dreamed of You**

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Hermione lay back on her bed and stared up at the canopy that draped above her. She closed her eyes and pictured the beautiful red-headed man that often filled her thoughts. She looked over at the piece of parchment sitting on her bedside table.

"I may have a solution to your problem. Third Floor bathroom during breakfast tomorrow. Come alone. -Pansy"

Hermione was hesitant to accept the offer of the Slytherin girl who had so often made fun of her over the years, but she was in need of assistance. She was almost certain there was nothing that the girl could do that could be any worse than what she had done to her last Christmas, when she read her diary out loud in front of the whole great hall. Hermione fell asleep dreaming of the man that she hoped would one day look at her the same way she looked at him.

-  
The next morning, Hermione awoke with a sense of urgency. She dressed in her uniform and grabbed her bag off the corner of the bed. She had waited until all the other girls had left the room before exiting it herself. She took the stairs two at a time almost tripping on one of the landings. When she entered the common room, her eyes were drawn to the fireplace because there standing with his twin was Fred Weasley. They were testing their Weasley products on first years again and as prefect she knew she should stop them but the second he looked up at her with those gorgeous brown eyes, Hermione became speechless. She put her head down and hastened her pace toward the portrait hole, running into Neville in the process. "Sorry Neville. In a hurry."  
Once she had cleared the view of the Fat Lady, Hermione slowed her pace by half a step. Everyone else would be at breakfast now so she shouldn't be seen. She rounded the corner on the third floor and realized how wrong her last thought had been. Flying above the door to the bathroom was none other than Peeves. That's just what she needed this morning.

"Hey there Granger. Going to visit your old pal Moaning Myrtle this morning? Becoming real chummy after the whole chamber incident I suppose. Or perhaps it's the whole mudblood thing you have in common."

Hermione didn't even flinch at the nasty comment. By now she was able to get over such childish insults. "Oh Peeves, I wonder what the Bloody Baron would say about you lurking outside the girls' lavatory."

The poltergeist squinted his eyes and floated away without another word. Hermione checked the hallway to make sure there was no one else coming down the corridor, then pushed open the bathroom door. Pansy was leaning against the sink in the center of the room. The sink that Hermione knew lead to the Chamber of Secrets below. She wished for a moment that she knew Parseltongue so she could open the entrance and push the other girl down into the Chamber but shook it off.

" So you actually showed up Granger. I'm surprised. Didn't think you had the guts. Well lets get this over with. I know I know. You're probably trying to figure out A. How I know your problem. And B. Why am I helping? Well to answer the first question I did read your diary last year remember and the answer to the second is I've been in your same situation. Draco barely even noticed I was there ninety percent of the time. I had just wished he were mine. Which brings me to our solution." Pansy pull a small pouch from the inside of her robe. From the pouch she produced a small vile of shiny purple liquid. "This potion is something I found in one of Draco's advanced potion making books. Its something we shouldn't be learning until our seventh year. It's called "Velit Ut" which is latin for "Make a Wish". Essentially you will write down your deepest wish on a piece of parchment. Then you will take a quick drink from the potion and sprinkle the rest on the piece of parchment, put the parchment in this pouch and place the pouch under your pillow all before going to bed. It worked for me." She handed Hermione the vile and pouch. "Good luck. I'm off to meet Draco for a bit of a songfest before first class."  
With that the other fifth year left Hermione standing in the bathroom. "Do you trust her?", came a voice from behind her. Of course, Myrtle had been listening the whole time. Hermione looked at the ghost girl and then back at the pouch. She shrugged her shoulders and decided it was worth the risk.

Hermione spent the rest of the day anxious for bed that night. She was so focused on that that in transfiguration she turned her desk into a pig when all she was supposed to be do was turn her bookbag into a parrot. Professor McGonagall had seemed very concerned as she turned the barnyard animal back into furniture. Hermione stayed quiet all through dinner as Harry and Ron pestered her for help with homework. She walked with the boys back to the common room so as to not seem any more suspicious than she already had today. She sat with them by the fire and gave helped start their divination papers for them before excusing herself to her dormitory.

She sat on the edge of her bed in the empty room. She pulled a piece of parchment from her bookbag and thought of her wish. She didn't just want to wish for Fred to be hers if it truly worked as powerfully as Pansy said it did. He wanted Fred to want her on his own. However, that didn't mean she couldn't influence his thoughts about her. She thought for a moment more and then wrote

"I wish to know what Fred truly thinks of me."

She then took a sip of the potion and sprinkled the rest on the parchment. She folded the paper and put it in its pouch. Sliding it under her pillow, Hermione wondered how tomorrow would turn out. She laid her head down, excited and a little worried about what she might find out.

The light came into Hermione's eyes through a fog. She sat up in bed and looked around. This was not her dorm. It looked very similar to her dorm but much messier. The air had a strange smell to it. She stood up out of bed and noticed that all the other beds were empty. That is, except the one she just got out of. All she could see was a red hair poking up from under the blanket. She took a step back just as the door opened. George Weasley came busting into the room. "Wake up sleepy head. You're going to be late for class AGAIN." Hermione stood back to get out of the twins way but then realized he hadn't even noticed her. She didn't know what to do. How did she end up here? She watched as both boys ran out of the room, Fred having obviously slept in his uniform, neither of them acknowledging her presence.

Hermione walked down the stairs into the common room but something was different. The fog that had been in the boys' dorm continued into the room below. What on earth was going on? Fred stood in the center of a crowd of first year girls while the all laughed as if whatever he had just said was the funniest thing they had ever heard. Hermione tried to walk toward them but stopped in her tracks when she saw Fred look up at her. No wait, he wasn't looking at her. He was looking past her. She turned around and suddenly, just like in the 80s movies her mom liked to watch, everything went into slow motion as the most beautiful girl she had ever seen walked down the stairs. As the girl got closer, Hermione was taken by surprise. The curls of her hair were softer, her teeth a tad bit smaller, but this beautiful girl was her. She turned and watched herself walk in Fred's direction. Fred suddenly looked at her with puppy dog eyes and all of the other girls completely disappeared. The other Hermione didn't even stop as she walked out of the portrait hole and Fred's face fell. Suddenly, George appeared next to his twin and put his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry mate. One day you'll do something so extraordinary that she'll have to notice you"

Suddenly, Hermione knew exactly what was going on. She was inside of Fred's head, in his dream to be exact. She had wished to know what Fred thought of her and now she would. Is that how Fred saw her? That beautiful woman who walked right passed him without a second glance? As soon as Fred and his twin walked toward the portrait hole the entire scene went black.

Hermione stood in the complete darkness, not knowing what to do. If the dream had ended, if Fred had woken up, shouldn't she be back in her own room. Out of nowhere, there was a blinding light coming out of the darkness. She walked toward it and the boys dorm room came into focus again, but this time it was different. She turned around and the space behind her was still black. She looked back out toward the room and watched as flew off as if she were climbing out of bed. She could see a pair of feet touch the floor and then walk to the sink and mirror and the opposite side of the room. Through the light, Hermione saw Fred's sleepy face in the mirror. Oh no! She was trapped inside Fred's head.

Fred brushed his fingers through his hair, ran the water in the sink and splashed it on his face. He was remembering the dream he had last night. Hermione was absolutely stunning but never said a word to him. She just saw him as her friend's goofy brother. What he wouldn't give to make her his.

No,no,no,no! This was not what she had wished for at all. How was she supposed to get out? She assumed this was just her subconscious inside his head not her actual body so where was her body? Was it still in bed? Would Lavender or Pavarti notice if she didn't wake up? Would Harry and Ron notice when she didn't show up for breakfast. "Come on Hermione. You're intelligent. You will figure something out."

Fred got ready for breakfast, quickly dressing in his uniform. As clumsy as he was, he fell over attempting to put on his sneakers. He grabbed his book bag and ran down the stairs hoping to catch a glimpse of the beautiful bookworm before breaking off for class. He scanned the room but it was already nearly empty. He didn't even see his brother or Harry. He walked out of portrait hole and ran into his twin and little sister. He could ask Ginny where Hermione was but the only one who knew of his feelings was George and he didn't want anyone else finding out. They all walked together to the great hall for breakfast. Even if his head and heart were somewhere else his stomach was hungry.

The three redheads entered the great hall and sat down with Ron and Harry. Ginny was the one to speak up about the missing brunette. "Hey guys, where is Hermione?" Ron shrugged as he shoveled eggs into his face. Harry spoke up. "We thought she was coming down with you." Just then Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil came running up to the table. "Guys something is wrong. We can't get Hermione to wake up."

Fred immediately jumped from his seat as did the rest of the group. They all ran back to the tower and were almost to the steps of the dorms when they remembered that the boys couldn't go. Ginny and the other girls ran up to the room while the boys waited impatiently at bottom. It wasn't long before they heard a voice yelling down the stairs. "Somebody go get Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey." Fred didn't even hesitate as he ran back out of the portrait hole and back to the great hall. He was there so fast you would have thought apparating was now legal inside the school walls. He ran past the students still eating their breakfast all the way up to the staff table. He quickly explained what was going on and both women jumped up and followed him. They raced past confused faces all the way up to the tower. Fred stopped short at the bottom of the stairs while the two women never missed a beat. Less than two minutes later, they their friends body floating down the stairs with Professor McGonagall's wand pointing at her.

"We won't know anything until we get her to the hospital wing. You may follow but do not get under foot," Madame Pomfrey followed the older woman out of the portrait hole and the group of concerned friends followed suit.

"We won't know anything until we get her to the hospital wing." Hermione heard the words in an echo. She watched as Professor McGonagall levitated her body now the hallway. Luckily, there were no other students in the hallway to see this.  
"Guys, I'm right here!"

She wanted to throw things but there was nothing to throw so instead she let out a scream.

Fred stopped in his tracks and looked around. "Did anybody else hear that?" Now his friends turned their concerned and confused looks toward him. "We didn't hear anything," replied Ginny. They kept walking toward the hospital wing when Peeves came around the corner. "Oh what happened to Granger. Have another run in with the big snakie. She was in there yesterday." Professor McGonagall was about to shout at him when she realized what he had said. "Peeves, follow" The look on her face made the poltergeist knew she meant business. The misfit group finally reached the hospital wing and McGonagall landed Hermione's body on the bed. Madame Pomfrey started to check her vitals as Professor McGonagall turned back to the poltergeist. "Okay. What do you know?"

"Well yesterday morning I saw the Parkinson girl go into the third-floor bathroom. Then about ten minutes later, the Granger girl came. I talked to her for a bit but then she threatened to call the baron so I skidaddled. Don't know what happened after that. But now maybe you should go talk to that other girl. You know if you ask me." He stopped talking. He was done being useful. "Very well thank you Peeves. You may leave. Children you may remain here and I will let your first period professors what is going on. I will go retrieve Miss Parkinson and return momentarily.

The children sat patiently as they watched Madame Pomfrey look over their friend. "Well everything seems to be normal. She just appears to in a deep sleep that she cannot wake from." The old woman walked away shaking her head in confusion. The children looked at each with an unspoken "What are we going to do."

Hermione had heard Fred ask if anyone had heard something right after she had screamed. Did he hear her? Only one way to find out. "FRED I'M HERE! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"  
-

"Hermione?" Fred ran to the young girl's bedside. "Hermione." Ginny placed her hand on her brother's shoulder. "She can't hear you, but we'll figure this out." It was then that Professor McGonagall returned to the room with Pansy. It took everything inside of Fred not to jump up and tackle the girl. She did this to Hermione. He didn't know how but she did something.

"We will all sit here and listen to Miss Parkinson before jumping to any conclusions." She conjured up enough chairs for all of the children. Fred didn't want to sit down but one stern look from the professor and he found a seat. Everyone stared at Pansy while she held an expression of unhelpfulness.

"Look I don't know what happened. Why don't you ask him?" she pointed in Fred's direction. Fred felt a rage build up in his chest. "How dare you think I would harm Hermione!" George and Ron grabbed their brother from either side to keep him from attacking the girl. Pansy chuckled. "Well looks like either it worked or she didn't need it at all." The level of confusion in the room rose.

"Miss Parkinson what are you talking about?" Professor McGonagall rose to stand next to the young girl. "Look I overheard her one night talking to that one," she pointed to Ginny, "whining about how she was so in love but thought he didn't notice her. So I decided to help her out from the goodness of my heart. I gave her a potion that I had used myself to help her out." She pulled out a vile from her book bag and handed it to the Professor. "Velit Ut."

"Dear heavens Miss Parkinson. Do you know what you've done. Did you even think about the consequences? 50 points from Slytherin and detention for a month. I will be having a discussion with Professor Snape as to further punishment if we cannot wake up Miss Granger. Miss Brown, Miss Parvati, please escort Miss Parkinson back down to the great hall. Breakfast should be just about over. Potter, Weasleys, you may stay. Ginny darling I will need your assistance. Please return to the girls' dormitory and look for a pouch under Miss Granger's pillow. Bring it back to me here. Fred may I have a word with you privately."

Everyone jumped up to follow the orders the Professor had given. Fred followed her to the corner of the room. "Why, Mr. Weasley, is it that Miss Parkinson believed you would know something about what happened to Miss Granger?" Fred tried to rack his brain, trying to figure out he possibly could have done anything. "You had quite a reaction to that statement earlier. Is there maybe something you're holding on to? Perhaps you are the young man Miss Granger as talking about to you sister."

"NO!" Hermione wanted the professor to stop talking. "PLEASE STOP! CAN YOU HEAR ME!"

Fred looked straight at the Professor. "You had to have heard that! I can hear her voice. It's like she's in my head." Just then Ginny came running in with the pouch that the Professor had asked for. The professor took the pouch and opened it revealing a small piece of parchment.

"I wish to know what Fred really thinks of me."

"Well Mr. Weasley it appears that we have an answer to who Miss Granger was talking about." Fred walked over to Hermione and placed a hand on hers. "What do I do?" The rest of the children came to stand next to their friend as the Professor continued to think. "Well you see Mr. Weasley. The thing about this potion is that you have to be very precise with your words. Miss Granger wished to know what you thought of her. You said you could hear her voice in your head correct?" Fred looked frightened for a moment. "Professor, you don't mean to say, that is….Hermione is actually in my head?"

"Lumos" the Professor said softly as she rose her wand to Fred's eyes.

The light from the end of the Professors wand was blinding. Hermione threw up her hands to block her eyes. Would they be able to see her?

"Ah hello Miss Granger. There she is Fred. Right behind your eyes. Seeing everything that you see. Seeing all the reactions that you have had to her situation." Fred looked down at the beautiful woman lying on the bed. "What do I do Professor?"

Professor McGonagall gave the young man a gentle smile. "It's very simple. You have to be truthful about your feelings. Does anyone in this room, besides, perhaps, your twin know of your feelings for Miss Granger?" Fred hung his head and then looked around the room at his friends. They all looked shocked. He hadn't told any of them. He was too scared of their reactions. He dropped to his knees beside his beloved's bed. He whispered into her ear, "Mione, please wake up. I need to hear that beautiful laugh. I need to see that beautiful smile. Please wake up. I love you."

Everything went black again. But this time was different than before. Hermione felt like she was swimming through the darkness. She felt lighter than air. Then she felt herself begin to lose consciousness. Suddenly, she could feel the bed underneath her. She was back in her own body. Her eyes opened slowly and she saw the face of the man she loved. She reached up to touch his face and saw the tears welling up in his eyes. She sat up and wrapped her arms around him. She turned to apologize to her friends but Fred wouldn't let her go. "I am so sorry that I never told you how I felt. I'm sorry that I made you feel like you had to use some dumb potion to find out. I'm so-" Hermione cut him off with a kiss. "None of that matters now. I am awake. I am here and now we both know. After all, people do crazy things when they're in love."

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 _Please review_


	13. Chapter 13: A Sticky Situation

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count:** 1,158

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

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 **Story Title :** A Sticky Situation

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Comedy

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** Godric Gryffindor / Rowena Ravenclaw

 **Summary :** Rowena tries to invent a charm and it goes a bit awry. Hilarity ensues as Godric catches her off guard.

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 **A Sticky Situation**

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Rowena stood by the Black Lake and flicked her wand and huffed when nothing happened. This was the most frustrating part of the process. She pressed her fingers to her temple and closed her eyes. She needed to concentrate. She had walked to The Black Lake after Godric and Salazar had run off into another argument about who they should be admitting to the newly founded school.

She opened her green eyes and looked towards the graying sky. She began to hum as she often did when she was thinking. She lost her train of thought and began to sway slowly in a circle. She didn't notice as Godric approached her. A secret smile was on her face as she listened to her mother singing her a lullaby in her head.

Godric stormed out of the castle, huffing for a moment. He shot a glare back to it and to the man inside he had been arguing with. He had left in search of Rowena. Gryffindor knew she had been annoyed at the pair of them. The woman did not leave conversations often. Where was she? His chocolate brown eyes sought her out. He tromped through the countryside as he attempted to get rid of his temper.

Rowena, completely oblivious to the outside world continued to sway. She was finally getting into the zone she needed to be in to invent this charm. Footsteps were unheard behind her as she swayed to the imaginary beat. She murmured a few things and her green eyes glittered. As Godric approached her she finally murmured the incantation, it was unclear what exactly was said. She intended for an object to float. A swish and flick was made and she began to open her eyes.

Her eyes widened as she opened them fully. She had cast the spell wrong, the flick had been too hurried and then she saw Godric. She opened her mouth in a small "O" as she saw the new charm go flying at him. What was going to happen? She rushed towards her colleague and groaned. This was the last thing she needed.

Godric stood rooted to the ground. He knew better than to approach her from behind. She had proven this repeatedly when she was inventing. She was in her own world and it often backfired on the person trying to gain her attention. The charm hit him and his kilt rose and stuck to the back of his bottom. "Rowena what did you do?!" He tried to pull his kilt down and was unable to. It was immovable. "Shite! Rowena! My kilt, it's stuck!"

Completely out of her reverie, she looked at Godric's backside and giggled. "Yes, it appears so. It seems another charm did not go according to plan," she said in her Irish lilt. Unable to contain her giggle at the Scottish man in front of her, "Your bottom is sticking out," with a tug, she tried to pull it down again, for him. "Mayhap, if I try to do it myself as I am the caster it will work. Or perhaps a Finite Incantatem?"

Godric nodded feverishly, the last thing he needed was for Slytherin to see this debacle of a charm. He groaned at the thought of it, "Please, Rowena. Before Salazar sees me," his eyes pleaded with hers. "Love, you know he takes the mickey out of me enough." Her giggles finally subsiding and she planted a sweet kiss on his lips. "Yes, my dear. Let's fix this." She cast the spell to end the enchantment and her eyes widened. It would not come undone. She began to physically tug on the kilt a little harder.

Godric was terrified, this was his family kilt. He had worn it to show his pride off this morning. He whispered softly, "Rowena…? What's going on?" Rowena looked up at her boyfriend and replied sweetly, "Nothing to worry about. This will be sorted soon enough. Just you wait and see." He shook his head and sighed. The woman was scatter brained. They all knew it. He was going to have to take the blame for this one.

Fifteen more minutes of tugging and a rip tore into his kilt. "Rowena. Give it up. I think we can officially say you have invented a new charm. Just not the one you intended to." Rowena huffed and stood up. She tapped her wand against her chin and then nodded decisively. "Fine. A permanent sticking charm. Now if I could only remember the incantation…" Godric covered her mouth quickly, "Later!" He yelled hurriedly, "Please later my love! When you are alone and cannot be disturbed for any reason." He kissed her smartly on the mouth to keep her from objecting and she melted against him. Any reasoning she may have had finally gone. She nodded, "Mayhap you are right Godric. But, pray tell how are you going to avoid the looks among student and staff with your kilt showing your rear?"

A swift look and a sparkle in his eye met his lover's intelligent ones. "Well, Rowena. You did always call me brave. Why not show it off now?" He grinned wickedly. "If I am proud and bold, Salazar will be too stunned to make fun of me." She began laughing and shook her head. "You, sir choose the oddest times to be brave." He grinned and offered her hand. "Oh no, Godric. I will not have any part of this adventure. You shall own this entirely on your own."

He puffed out his chest and nodded decisively and turned on his heel. His kilt sticking up against his backside. He strode to the castle, his eyes cast ahead. He would be damned if he let anyone get the best of him today. He may have been alone without his witch at his side but he would be proud of what had happened. After all, she had invented a new charm. It was just not the one she intended. With Rowena laughing fully in the background. There would be no doubting after this day the courage of Gryffindor was truly ludicrous.

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 _Please review_


	14. Chapter 14: Best Accident

**Prompt :** Magical Mishaps

 **Word count : 638**

 **Note :** The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

 **Disclaimer :** The authors of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rowling.

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 **Story Title :** Best Accident

 **Rating :** T

 **Genre :** Mystery Fluff

 **Fanfic name :** _-Undisclosed at this time-_

 **Pairing :** None

 **Summary :** What will Abbi do when a magical mishap comes her way?

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 **Best Accident**

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Once upon a time I used a charm known as "Abra Kadabra" by accident and there were some serious repercussions. The wallet that unfortunately came in line with the spell was hit directly. I am a beginning student at hogwarts and I don't know many charms yet. I'm learning so much at Hogwarts and well am kinda find it funny not being able to retransfigurate the wallet back into real muggle life of daily life, and everyone in muggle world has asked if they have seen this item that randomly disappeared but-nope! I need to find it right away and I don't have help!

You would think after an evening of looking there would be some progress made? NO! The wallet had still vanished in seemingly thin air. Oh great! Now what to do? Now What! Cry? Days have gone by and my charm of "Abra Kadabra" to return the back to a tangible item in front of me backfires once again. I keep returning to my charms book but no luck.

Well at this point a student gets overwhelmed. What if the school will know I cannot perform a simple charm to reappear my wallet? Peers are looking for me by this point! "Any one see Abbi? She is a student in Gryffindor," they say. "Last seen was in the common room studying her charms to return an item."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

Students go looking in the common for me and I'm not in the room. Neither is the wallet. By this time I have given up trying to figure out how to return and kept trying to call out to my search party.

By the time the professor came in to find out the situation she knew the reverse spell to return both items and performed them flawlessly, bringing me and my wallet back unharmed! "Transform friado treago," the professor said. "Gyffindor Student Abbi and figurado wallet."

Both spells worked to returned myself and the missing wallet. I went looking for in the first place where my friends were and I Explained the situation of my charm did backfiring. I told them it would not work and she I not return my wallet. I was crying at this point of the story because I had needed the important personal information the next day!

The next day, I finally continued paying attention in my Charms class and when loosing items and asking for HELP the next time a spell backfires, instead of just trying to simply amend it myself.

Towards the end of my Charms class I had made better progress and finally learned to use the "Abra Kadbra" charm. I could transform lessons instead of back firing my misplacement objects. I finally got my wand to transform anything correctly in my class and the highest marks I could hope for.

I was thrilled with my grade and didn't want to give up towards the end like can sometimes happen when taking on challenging tasks. Needless to stay, I never lost my wallet again and became an expert at vanishing and reappearing objects.

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 _Please review_


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